Shadows In Light
by Cobray
Summary: *Complete* Enemies old and hidden threaten to tear down the peace they worked so hard to build. Loyalties will be decided and sides will be chosen, and those trapped in the middle will have hard times ahead, and harder choices to make.
1. Prologue: Darkness

_They sing in the dark because the dark is all they know. _

_All they have ever truly known, their refuge and home and prison. Lives spent cocooned and waiting for shining ecstatic moments in the light. Then hunted and harried and pushed back, down below the skin of the world and left to die and be forgotten and regain strength._

_Plans and songs made and shouted across the void. Waiting and scheming and praying always for the next gasp of the light above, like air to a drowning man._

_And finally one finds strength and claws it's his her way up towards the light and this time it thinks; this time will be different. Comrades below singing encouragement. Black hands paving the way and green and red and white following close behind and a dozen a hundred a thousand after them. Plans unfurl and blossom and it has begun._

_Toward the light. Always towards the light._

_

* * *

_

_**Wake up.**_

Schiff looked up from his sights. "You guys hear that?"

"Hear what? There's nothing here except us and the walls," Adam whispered in reply. Then under his breath; "Miles and miles of goddamn walls."

Schiff shook his head, trying to clear the faint hiss of static out of his headset. "Swear I heard something."

"Eyes front," their squad leader said. No bark in Charl's voice, just the quiet yet absolute confidence that his orders would be obeyed. "Schiff, do you have a problem?"

"Just these damn bug-masks Sir," Schiff replied. "Permission to remove?" _Lousy Esthar techs and their lousy broken hardware._

"Denied." Charl glanced around at his grumbling subordinate and saw that wasn't going to be enough. "A Galbadian squad discovered this place when they were supposed to be guarding Timber. We've barely explored less than ten percent of the crystal pillar, we have no idea what kind of atmosphere or poisons we may stumble over."

The arrival of Galbadian soldiers in Estharian territory had not been well received. Even less so when they had found of the biggest artifacts in Esthar's history. _Before_ Esthar had."We're probably lucky they didn't trip over something and blow the damn thing up when they went through it."

Schiff adjusted his weapons' straps over his back as they moved through another cavern, in a structure filled with identical caverns. Reflections and echoes bounced in every direction as they patrolled the endless interior of the giant pillar of the crystal pillar. There were stories passed around the Esthar barracks about the crystal pillar driving men mad, and now that his assignment had finally come up he had begun to see why. It was aptly named, a riotous skyscraper of colour, bleeding rainbows into the jungle. Lunatic Pandora.

"Alright, this'll do." Charl declared as they found themselves at a T-junction. "Squad, stand down. We'll camp here for tonight." A sigh erupted from the rest of the five-man guard team, and scrapes echoed through the crystal walls as they got out their rations and tried to make themselves comfortable against the hard surface of the floor. Schiff found a small outcropping and sat down gratefully on it as he removed his helmet.

"Tell me again," he asked the world in general, "why we're guarding a huge hollow tourist souvenir?"

"Because," Adam said tonelessly as he adjusted his communication's gear.

"You talk too much Schiff," one of the other squaddies said, and tossed a radio to him. "Tell the outpost what we're doing."

Schiff grabbed the device in midair and keyed it for their command post. "Base, this is Lunatic One, we're shacking up for the night, copy?" _Click_.

_"Gotcha. Sleep tight boys."_ Faint laughter over the radio, from people who'd be sleeping in a vaguely-comfortable truck perched on a nearby grassy plain, and not on solid crystal floors. Bastards.

_**It's time.**_

In less than a second Schiff was on his feet, rifle pointed at the walls. "There! Damnit, what the hell is that?"

Charl didn't even look up. "Cool it soldier, it's been a long week. You know the walls reflect any sound we make, we're all hearing things in this place."

Schiff looked at his commander, face heating up as he began to feel more than a little silly. "I'm telling you I heard something."

Charl's reply was cut off as a rustle of static came from Schiff's radio. _"Lunatic One."_

Schiff grabbed the radio from his belt. "This is Lunatic One, go ahead Lunatic Command."

* * *

"Lunatic One we're getting some strange readings coming from the Pandora," Stacy said, glancing between displays, collections of numbers and readings that added up a comforting beat of _nothing's happening nothing's happening_. Or at least they should have. Now they were saying something else entirely. "You see anything strange down there?"

_"Nothing so far, Command."_

_"Schiff's hearing things!"_ a second voice shouted down the line.

Stacy sighed. _Soldiers. _"Do me a favour and put Charl on, Schiff." A second's pause, then:

A second's pause, then: _"This is Charl."_

"Sergeant, just letting you know we're getting some strange signals coming close to your location, further in towards the centre. It's playing hell with the measurements we're trying to take. Mind checking it out?"

_"Galbadians?"_ the man asked sharply.

"Problem just weather interfering with whatever the Pandora is made of."

_"We'll report as soon as we find it. Out."_

Stacy sighed again and leaned back in her chair as she switched the connection closed. "If Hyne is up there she will kill me now and save me from this posting."

Her technician-assistant grinned. "Don't worry kid, only one week of this left, then its back Deling for wining and wo-"

"Finish that sentence and die," Stacy warned. "First it was Galbadian troops and now it's the Pandora itself. I hate this place so, so much." She went back to staring at the screens, desperate for something to interest her.

_**Wake up.**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Okay squad, get up. We got another job."

Four voices, almost in chorus; "Aww Sarge!"

"No buts! Get up you pussies or I'll report this to Adel personally!" They started to rise. Barracks rumour was that the Sorceress' interest in the Pandora was personal and failure would be treated very, very seriously. No-one wanted to be the first to find out how serious that was.

Schiff was first on his feet. "Something wrong sir?"

"Base reports something spooky a few hundred yards from our location. We're going to check it and report in." He started moving down the corridor, confident the others would be behind him.

"Slavedriver," Adam whispered under his breath.

"You're in the army now soldier! No slacking!" Schiff whispered in a mocking tone.

_**Live. It is time.**_

This time it wasn't a disembodied voice. This time it had direction. A darkened corridor. _It's coming from over there!_ Schiff was about to exclaim when he noticed the _other_ squad members were also turning that way, rifles raised.

"Identify yourself!" Charl shouted into the dark. His weapon didn't waver an inch. "Come out!"

"I told you I wasn't crazy!" Schiff hissed to Adam jubilantly.

"Well done, have a cookie."

"Come out slowly or we will open fire!" Charl shouted again. A minute passed. No answer. _Okay. _"Squad, move on that corridor, standard spread," he whispered.

They slid into motion like a machine. Charl and Schiff covering the walls as the others moved forward in the low crouch-walk that had intimidated the enemies of Esthar for decades. With military proficiency.

_**Get up.**_

_**

* * *

**_

It had echoes now. A low deep voice that reverberated off the walls towards them. "Come out where we can see you!" Charl shouted one last time. When no reply came they continued to move through the corridors towards the sound, until they turned a corner and came to-

"Jesus that's a big door," Schiff said. Charl glared daggers. "Sorry sir."

It _was_ a big door. It reached almost as far as they could see, blending into the crystal above them seamlessly. It looked like it was made out of black rock, and the entire surface shimmered. Almost at the same time, they all flicked on their suit-lights.

"...Whoa."

The entire surface was decorated. Coiling snakes covered the entire frame, and Schiff could pick out several common monsters, being attacked by... something large wielding a sword. Three vaguely human-shaped figures fought them. It was, he had to admit, magnificent.

"Base, you seeing this?" _Click._

_"We're looking through your helmet-cameras Sergeant. The readings we can see are coming from the other side of that."_

"Uh-uh, no way are we getting that open any time soon," one of the squaddies said.

"Check the walls. Check the door. We have a job to do," Charl said. He holstered his rifle on his back and walked up to the massive slabs of crystal, and began to feel around the edges. The others did the same.

"This is nuts," Adam whispered. "Whatever built that didn't want anything opening it anytime soon! What the hell could be on the other side of that?"

"Yeah but what if it's filled with treasure?" Schiff said, feeling his way around the walls.

"Treasure? Are you _five?_ There's no treasure in this relic!" Adam said testily. Then, quietly; "Whatever we found would just get confiscated anyway."

"Sir, I have something."

Everyone walked over to the private who had spoken. He was staring at a small section of the wall. Three button-shaped objects were inlaid in the discoloured crystal. Charl raised his radio.

"Base, is this dangerous?"

"Negative Sergeant, whatever's on the other side, your suits'll be able to absorb the radiation," Stacy replied. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. _Jesus where did this headache come from?_

_**Quickly.**_

"It's there again!" the technician shouted.

"Calm down, I didn't say a damn thing!" Stacy said in annoyance. "Take an Esuna if you're hearing things!" She turned back to the radio, one eye on the readings. _They're getting stronger... _"Standing orders are to investigate and report back on all anomalous activities inside the Pillar, but they didn't say you had to stick around. Check it out and leave ASAP."

_"Affirmative. Lunatic One out."_

Instead of sitting back down she leaned further forward, as if staring at the displays harder would give her greater understanding. "What the hell..." she whispered to herself. She tapped a command out and one small line in the waving spectrum on her screens expanded. "Hey, take a look at this."

Her colleague glanced over her shoulder. "Standard carbon/electric-field reading device. Measures non-human lifeforms in close proximity to the tracking devices. What about it?"

"It's getting bigger."

* * *

The door swung open with a groan that they felt in their bones. None of them had touched anything.

"This is a bad. Idea," Adam said, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Then let's do this quickly," Charl said, stepping past the doors. He dropped his weapon to his side, not because he thought it was safe, but because he didn't want the others to see how much trouble he was having keeping it level.

_**It's time again.**_

"We hear you in there!" Charl shouted. "Come out with your hands up!"

"I don't believe he just said that."

"Shut _up_ Schiff! _Now damnit! Come out!_" Charl was getting light-headed. The walls seemed to be expanding and shrinking at the same time, and it was getting hard to see. Like someone had turned up the glare on his visor.

Schiff began to speak. "Sir, I don't think _what the hell is this!_"

Light. Extreme light, overpowering light flowed over them. Automatic filters in their helmets tried to adjust and burned out, unable to cope with the sheer about.

_What is this place?_

Schiff's body was on fire. The light bounced a hundred, a thousand times across the crystal walls, amplified and flowing over him and through him and he could see nothing feel nothing but the light. Dimly he heard his colleagues _friends_ screaming next to him but barely. As if they were a hundred miles away. _The light._

_The light is taking us apart._

_

* * *

_

_**Yes. Just like that.**_

_**

* * *

**_

Stacy could do nothing except watch. "Charl, what's happening down there?"

Monitors warbled at her and lines and graphs flashed bright red, none more so than the ones recording the vital signs of the team inside the Lunatic Pandora. For what felt like an hour she sat there as the entire Base's monitoring hardware screamed warnings at her.

_What can I do?_ In her military career she had treated poisoned gunshot wounds inflicted by Timber guerrillas, she had watched men in sunny weather die as ice magic froze the blood solid in their veins, but now watching displays and screens she could only watch as the lines representing the lives of her fellow soldiers jumped and hollered like the skipping ropes she had played with as a child.

"What the _hell_!" She screamed into her radio. "Lunatic One this is base _come in!_ What the hell is happening in there!" Silence. Then more silence. Stacy began to panic. Then, just as she was about to hang up the handset;

"We're still here, ma'am, our sensors just got knocked out of ways," an icily cool voice replied. Stacy's entire body uncoiled as she fell back into her chair. She heard a low thudding noise and was about to tell her technician to find the source of it and turn it off, when she saw it was her hand, shaking against the armrests of her seat.

"Wha- what happened Sergeant?

"...Base, you might want to report in to regional HQ. There's something here they'll probably want to look at."

* * *

The light subsided, the pain vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. For a moment, silence, and then Adam was the first to look back at the place they had come to explore:

"It's a kid."

"What? No! I'd _never_ have guessed!"

The squad faced the room the door had been hiding, staring in with weapons raised. A small child, no more than two or three years old, stared back at them impassively. She was entirely white. White skin, white hair. All except the eyes entirely black save for a single dot of white where the pupil should be. That gaze met them, and none of them had the courage to meet it.

"What now?" Schiff whispered to his commander. _What is this place. What have we gotten ourselves into. _

_Are we going to die here?_

A moment's hesitation from Charl, then; "We take her back with us. HQ will want to know what we've found." He cleared his throat and stared up at the ceiling of the chamber. "I think they'll want to know what this is."

The room was a vision, an architect's dream of precision. Perfectly smooth, the entire roof was covered in sharp spikes leaning inwards, and at the centre a crystal ball. Inside that, the image of some grotesque and huge creature. But even as they watched the image imprinted in the centre of the sphere began to fade and return to the glassy rainbow brilliance that was the hallmark of the Pandora. In seconds it was gone. None of them would think to comment on or remember this, now or later.

"Shiff, go back to the camp, get the handcuffs."

Adam looked aghast. "She's just a child sir."

Charle rounded on him. "A kid that appeared out of nowhere after... after whatever just happened back there? Damn right she's getting the handcuffs! Schiff, go!"

The soldier did as he was told, leaving the other four with nothing to do but look around the room. Anywhere but at the child. They could feel her looking at them.

Suddenly; "Damnit Sir we can't do this! What if she's a demon or something." A gun raised and pointed at the small figure. It stared back impassively, as if not recognising

_or not fearing_

the weapon pointed at her head.

"Put that down Adam. We're soldiers, not monsters," Charl almost snarled at the jumpy private.

"Y saw that thing up there!" They all glanced up at the now-clear dome. "What if this thing is that thing's spawn or something!" He tried to bring his gun up again. Charl was faster.

"You put that thing down before I kick your ass," Charl said, and it _was_ a snarl now.

Adam glanced once at the child, who was watching the exchange impassively. All discipline seemed to have left him, as if stripped away by the murderous light they had been subjected to. "No way am I letting this thing out of here!" he shouted. With one smooth motion his free hand came up from his belt holding his combat knife, and he swung it around, catching Charl on the thigh. The Sergeant's reflexes had him jumping back before he could even think about it, and Adam's rifle came up again to point at the child.

"Hyne forgive me," he whispered, and pulled the trigger.

And then it melted in his hands.

The man stared idiotically at the lumpy shape covering the floor that had been his weapon, the smell of burning flesh from his unprotected hand beginning to fill the room. Adam opened his mouth to scream, but the sound never had

_Charl running for the door, some deep soldier's instinct shouting get out get out get out_

a chance

_Schiff already on the ground around the corner as he heard the dull whine in the air as the walls began to tremble and glow and_

to

_And nothing._

_

* * *

_

To Stacy sitting in the truck watching the monitors, biting her fingernails, it was a murderously hard punch as the shockwave travelled through and past the truck. Without thinking she dropped out of the chair to her knees and put her hands over her head, and she stayed that way until the world stopped shaking around her. She was about to call the tech when she realised she had forgotten his name.

"Oh shit!"

Stacy coughed and began to stand up. Glass shook and cascaded out of her hair and clothes. "What happened?" she asked hoarsely. Everything was broken.

"Oh shit oh shit!"

"_What happened!_" The man just pointed, and Stacy crawled over and looked outside.

"Oh, goddess."

Where before Lunatic Pandora had been a rainbow of reflecting angles and outcroppings, it was now pumping out a harsh white which faded even as they watched. She glanced over at the squad's life-signs. Stupid. The screens were shattered. _A stopped clock is right twice a day... _"Shit, we have to go down there." She didn't realise she had said it until a moment later.

The technician stared at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was. Maybe the light had made her that way. "Are you crazy!"

She grabbed him by the lapels and hauled him towards her until they were eye-to-eye. "Get. Your. Ass. Down. There. _Now!_"

* * *

Schiff stood up shakily. He couldn't hear anything except a buzzing in his eyes. Everything around him was white. Even his armour. He glanced down at his hands. They were white too. Like all colour had been blasted out of the world, and all that was left was a blank slate, waiting to be filled in.

_Am I dead?_

"Hey is that- Schiff? _Schiff?_"

He glanced in the direction of the noise, to see Stacy and her junior running towards him, both looking ridiculous in ill-fitting armour.

"What happened, Schiff?"

"I don't know, I just... _damnit _my head hurts!"

"Where's the rest of the squad?"

"They're... oh shit, they're still in the chamber?" He didn't know. He couldn't think.

Stacy glanced at the tech, then back at the shaken soldier. "What were they doing in there?" An unspoken question. _Did they survive that?_

He tried to shake his head clear. "Child... Found a kid... inside the door."

"Hyne, what the hell was a kid- nevermind, we have to find the others." She grabbed Schiff's hand. "You okay? Your face is all white. "

"I'll be fine." He stood. "Come on. It's this way." They started walking, back to the room. Hoping for a miracle neither of them expected.

"This is it?" Stacy exclaimed, looking at the huge doors. "Can you _imagine _how advanced the people who build this must have been?" She looked back where Schiff had gone ahead of her. "Are they okay?" Silence. "Schiff?" More silence. The man didn't turn. "Schiff!" She walked up to the man as he sat down on the floor at the entrance to the room.

A small laugh. Then a slightly louder one. Then he pointed ahead.

"What, what's down there? Schiff?" No responce. Just laughter. She looked past him to see what he was pointing at, and; "Oh Hyne."

There was nothing there. Where she stood the floor dropped away and curved to the ground. She looked up and saw the same thing on the ceiling. Where there had been a vaguely square room there was now a perfectly spherical area inside the Lunatic Pandora.

In the exact centre of the sphere, hovering gently, a small child stood, staring ahead.

Black eyes, with single white dots for pupils. Just staring.

Staring at her.


	2. Prologue: Light

_A world of light you've never seen and could never imagine. _

_A city of shifting towers and bridges, constructed of colours and translucency like oil on water. Metaphysical concepts of humanity teased out and made real. Rebuilding and changing and altering itself on the whims of a blueprint no one has ever seen. Balanced like a spider's web contained between and within sheets of glass, looking precarious yet utterly impervious to harm. It has been tried._

_The Imaginary City, Olesia._

_Beings fly and walk and flow through the structures, avoiding places where the light fades and darkens to black, areas tainted and put aside, trying not to look too hard at the (people?) contained within, inhabitants of their glorious city they would rather be expunged but cannot, their existence a reminder that this city they inhabit is not truly their own._

_One moves swiftly through and across the rainbow bridges. Already late for the gathering she has been told to attend, she is as close to panic as anyone can come to in this place, called by another whose voice it is not wise to disregard. Finally after minutes (seconds?) of travel through ever-changing topography of Olesia, the colours and shapes resolve themselves and she has arrived. The cathedral-sized (but size has no meaning here) tower has been a meeting place for the privileged for eons, used only to discuss the most pressing and dangerous news. Such a meeting has been called._

_Others are already there, the gathering has started without her. She looks around and sees the reassuring presences of her friends and companions. Nothing as crass as a physical body in this place, she sees the souls of her fellows. She picks out the fiery countenance of one always on the edge of anger, another cool and collected and merely annoyed that he has been called away from other amusements. Yet another; a quivering green ball of energy. Finally, in the centre of the area, a presence that cannot be ignored._

_He speaks and the others listen. He talks about events and transgressions, about punishment and protection. Something is happening that cannot be allowed. When he finishes there is silence. One speaks up, tentatively, and others join the conversation. She can only listen as plans are drawn up. Horrible plans._

_We always hurt the ones we love._

_

* * *

_

"Do I really have to be here?"

Squall Leonhart adjusted his collar for the fifth time in as many minutes, painfully aware of the assembled masses' view fixed on him, most in various stages of awe.

"Yes, you do," Cid said lightly. "They're here to see you all, remember?"

Squall sighed in resignation. The quad was packed with new trainee-candidates, and they were all staring at the seven young SeeDs standing behind the headmaster, side-by-side on the stage . _I feel like a sideshow freak._

"You _are_ a sideshow freak," Rinoa whispered to him semi-mockingly.

"I still think this isn't necessary."

Rinoa kicked him again. "If it was up to you you'd still be a candidate yourself." she hissed.

"That's not-"

"Quiet, Cid's about to start."

_You'd think he would at least change the speech,_ Squall thought to himself as he listened to Cid drone on about the 'purpose of SeeD'. It was the exact speech _he_ had heard when he had first arrived at Garden. _Well, that's not entirely fair..._ He tried not to look too bored as Cid suddenly raised a hand towards him. Squall tried to meet the gaze of the audience and felt two hundred pairs of eyes staring back. It was unnerving, to say the least.

"All exits blocked, nowhere to run, no weapon. All attention focussed on you. Nightmare scenario, eh?" Rinoa smiled. He didn't give her the satisfaction of a reply.

"Boy I sure do love these introduction rallies. Nothing better."

Squall didn't turn at the voice, but swore there and then that Zell would be patrolling the MD level for the rest of the month. He looked back at the platform as Cid cleared his throat again. _Oh thank Hyne, he's nearly finished._

"-But let us not forget that even though the threat of Ultimecia has ended, SeeD still has a purpose. The world will still need those willing to stand up and defend it in its times of need-"

Squall saw a couple of the new students roll their eyes as Cid finished his speech. The old headmaster smiled, dropping the formality. "Well, I think that covers most of it. Welcome to Balamb Garden everyone."

Squall sighed again as a cheer rose up from the quad floor. He glanced to his right and saw Quistis' eyes were closed. He tapped her on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow. _Still awake? _The blonde instructor nodded slightly and gave an even smaller shrug. _Why spoil his fun?_He turned back to see Rinoa smiling gently at him.

"See, that wasn't so bad now was it?"

"I thought for a second there he would never stop, and we'd all be stuck there for eternity."

"Irvine it wasn't _that_ bad," Selphie pouted.

"It _was_ that bad Selphie. Squall was nearly falling asleep."

"It was inspirational!"

"It was booooring."

"Both of you knock it off."

The group walked the small corridor from the elevator into Cid's new office as Irvine and Selphie bickered. Since the Garden's controls were still sticking out of his old office, Cid had relocated to the chamber previously occupied by NORG, and installed among other things a conference table and some windows.

_Only five years ago. So much has changed._

Cid and Edea were already there as they entered. Cid looked up as they entered and smiled. "Ah, excellent. Have a seat." He waited until they were all sat down and looked around. "Another year, another group of fresh minds to train, eh? Firstly, congratulations on leading another year of students into SeeD."

"Thank you sir!" Selphie chirped. Her enthusiasm was almost palpable.

"Not a problem dear. Now, onto this year, I'm afraid that once again I'm going to have to ask you to fill in for some of the resting intructors until-"

Squall sighed. "Sir, can't other instructors cover those lessons?"

Rinoa wrapped her arm around his. "Oh come on, it'll be fun."

He could have sworn Cid's eyes were twinking. "Nonsense Squall, you did a sterling job last semester. I'm sure you will rise to the challenge of leading these bright young things in-" he checked a form laid out in front of him. "-weapons training."

_Oh well, it could be worse._

"Also, several missions have come up and been assigned to you already. Xu will give you the information about those after she finishes the introductory tour." He reshuffled his papers and checked his watch. "Speaking of which, I think she should be finishing up right about now. Good luck this year everyone, let's raise some stellar pupils."

* * *

_This is going to be hell._

"Squall, you okay?"

He looked across at Rinoa as they walked out of the elevator. "Hmm?"

She frowned. "Don't 'hmm' me, I'm serious." A pause. "You don't have to be worried about me you know, I can look after myself. I_ did_ look after myself."

He tried to find words. "It's just... I was worried." He had to restrain himself from saying more. _You might have been dead. I don't know what I would have done._

Zell opened his mouth to speak, and Selphie kicked him in the shins. _Shhh._

Annoyance. "I don't _need_ you to look out for me Squall."

Squall sighed. _I knew this was going to be difficult._ "We still don't know what happened, it would be safer if we figured out exactly what was-" He stopped before he could blunder into what he had been about to say. _ What was wrong with you._

A week ago, almost five years to the day after they had returned from Ultimecia's castle, Rinoa, Quistis and a female student had simultaneously and with no warning involuntarily unjuctioned their Guardians and vanished where they were standing. Three days later Garden received a call from Winhill, saying a girl dressed in soaking-wet blue-and-black clothing had appeared on the beach, and was asking to speak to the Headmaster. Two days after that the White SeeD's ship had turned up in Balamb Harbor and left a confused and scared student on the waterfront. A week after _that _Laguna phoned Cid to report they had Quistis recuperating in Odine's lab after an Esthar geological station on the edge of the Kashkabald desert had picked her up, half-dead of dehydration. One week later and they still didn't know what had happened or why. Quistis and the student's examinations had shown nothing unusual, and Rinoa's tests had shown nothing except increased magical activity, which Dr Kadowski and Odine passed off as normal for a Sorceress.

Squall was jerked out of his train of thought as Irvine swung his arms around his and Rinoa's shoulders. "So, what's everyone up to today?"

Rinoa beat him to it. "Just a quiet night." To Squall her meaning was clear. _I'm not done arguing with you yet._

Irvine looked mortally offended. "What! On the first night of the new year? No no no, we're going to go _out-"_

"Irvine," Quistis began tiredly.

"We're going to have a good time-"

"Irvine?"

"We're gonna have a _party!_"

"_Irvine Kinneas!_"

He turned and, his long coat sweeping dramatically. "Yes, lovely maiden?"

"No you're not."

He looked over his shoulder and stepped back as he saw Xu leaning against the archway leading to the dorms. "Xu! We thought you'd already shipped out to G-Garden! To what do we owe the pleas-"

The short-haired Head of Operations cut him off with a word: "Orders."

"Aww, Xu." The lanky cowboy visibly deflated in front of their eyes. "Don't we even get a quick break?"

"No."

"Or even something to eat?"

"No."

"Or-"

"Will this question involve you trying to find a way of not going on these missions I have for you?"

"...Yes."

"Then no."

The others were trying not to laugh as Irvine near-prostrated himself before the raven-haired woman. "Xu. It's the beginning of a new year. Soon we will be covered in young students trying their best to make our lives hell. In the name of Hyne and her infinite mercy. _Give us this week of restfulness!_"

"Ok."

"What, really?"

"No." She checked her watch. "It's almost time for roll-call. Here, go around the dorms and check no-one's left behind, and I _may_ give you a milk-run as your first assignment."

Irvine straightened up as if struck by lightning. "Yes ma'am!" He wandered off and Selphie quickly followed. Xu turned back to the others. "Why did you not give him back to Galbadia?"

Squall shrugged. "I forget."

"We needed the extra manual labour maybe?" Rinoa suggested.

"Must be."

"Yeah..."

* * *

Almas Jordin swung her small bag of belongings up onto her small bed and collapsed next to it, staring at the ceiling, grinning. _I made it I made it I made it! _She took the small piece of paper the woman introduced as Head of Operations had given her and read it to herself for the fifth time. It announced that the short brown-haired girl was now a newly-enlisted SeeD Candidate, Rank 1 (Probationary). "I made it!"

"Hey _hey, _less of the 'I' and a little more 'we', huh?" Li Nuo, a diminutive Dollet girl even smaller than Almas was, stuck her head around the edge of the small cubicle. "Or do we not exist anymore?"

"Yeah I mean it's not like we did anything important," Leonard Nerva said. Unlike the two girls whose age he shared he didn't seem to have stopping growing yet, and dwarfed them both.

Almas smiled. "Come on guys, we're _here, _we're SeeDs now! Well we _could _be SeeDs, soon!" she corrected herself quickly.

Li shook her head and went back to unpacking her own things. "Well we would have been here last year but _you_ got us in trouble with those Timber officials and we had to stay past the registration date clearing up the mess _or did you forget!_" She glanced into Almas' room, and noticed the large gray case propped up next to the door. She sighed. "Almas, please tell me you don't intend to try and use that thing again?"

Almas sighed. Even though she was smaller, for as long as she and Leonard could remember Li had always been the older sister to them both. "Well... yeah..." Li was about to open her mouth to say something she _knew_ was going to be an argument, and was grateful for the knock at the door. "I'll get it!" she shouted quickly, and ran past the annoyed girl. "Sorry about that, what can I do fo-" She stopped talking when she saw who was on the other side.

"Sorry for the interruptions ladies and gent," a tall man in a cowboy hat and long cream-coloured coat said, "but it's almost time for the final roll-call in the quad." He glanced into the room and saw the oblong container Leonard had opened on their communal table, and his eyes rested on the gun within. "Hey is that a Deling 20/10?"

"Yes sir," Leonard managed to croak out.

"Cool, I trained with one of those back in the day. Hope to see you on the range with that thing." He glanced back around, and his eyes landed on the box Li had already commented on. "And is that... a Gunblade case?"

"Yes," Almas said quietly. "Sir," she added quickly. To her surprise the man grinned at her.

"Oh my little lady, you are in for a world of pain," he whispered conspiratorially. He straightened up. "Well, don't forget. Don't want to be late for the first day's schedule!" And he was gone, as quickly as that.

* * *

"Irvine what were you doing?" Quistis asked.

"Just introducing myself to the new breed of SeeD legends," Irvine replied cheerfully.

"Irvine please _please_ don't attempt to break the new candidates," Xu said tiredly.

He looked hurt. "It was _one guy_ alright! One guy! It wasn't like I meant to!"

"Irvine that 'one guy' quit the Garden after an until-then perfect academic record after that debacle of a lesson in the Training Area," Quistis said from memory.

"I apologised!"

"Yes but he couldn't hear you, on account of the bandages wrapped around his entire upper body."

"Everyone's a critic."

"Do you know who that was?" Leonard asked. "That was _Irvine Kinneas!_"

"The famed womaniser and slacker?" Li retorted.

"Li that man is the greatest gunman alive today! And he was _here!_ In our room!"

"Hey, are either of you guys worried about that 'world of pain' comment?" Almas asked. "'Cause it didn't really sound real good."

"He's just a man, Leonard," Li replied tiredly.

"He _saved the world!_ With nothing more than a rifle and some spare ammo!"

"And five well-armed and well-prepared SeeD legends as well?"

"'Cause y'know I think maybe this might be a bad idea. World of pain and all."

"He said he hoped to see me on the range. Man this is going to be so cool."

"Just don't get ahead of yourself okay?"

Almas collapsed onto a chair. "Oh Hyne. I'm doomed."

Leonard and Li both stopped their bickering and looked around at her. "Come on Alm, it's not gonna be that bad. It's a hard weapon to use is probably all he meant."

"Please don't call me that."

"Sorry, but the point is; this is _it_. We're here, little sis. We're gonna be SeeDs!"

Li nodded. "Almas, really, you're overreacting, it can't be that bad."

She sighed. "Yeah, Yeah you're probably both right.

Leonard smiled. "See? It's gonna be a great year!"

Squall watched as Xu and Irvine continued to bicker all the way to the quad, and sighed.

_It's gonna be a long year._

_

* * *

_

_

* * *

_

Oh no I am writing a story again I guess? My name is Cobray and this is FFnet, let us play the reading game once more!

I need a proof-reader because I am terrible at things like 'grammer' and 'spelling'. Contact me via profile if you're interested.


	3. Trials

"Do you think they missed us?" Almas whispered.

Leonard risked raising his head over the small hillock and looked around. "I think so."

The two SeeD trainees were literally stuck in the mud, and both were beginning to regret their choice of elective.

Days had turned into weeks after their arrival at the Garden. The three friends had chosen their courses together in the hours after classes had been announced, with Almas and Leonard making a beeline for the combat courses, with Li taking magic and theory. After watching Almas and Leo arguing for over an hour about who would be taking the last spot on the Magical Survival and Introduction course she had deferred her spot to Almas and also taken a night-class in Diplomacy and Negotiation. Nobody was surprised.

If either of the two young fighters had paid more attention to the course _description _they were arguing over would probably argued more to see who _wouldn't_ be taking it. Which was how a month or so after enrolment they had found themselves lying prone in a muddy ditch in the Timber woods, staring across an unused rail line.

Being hunted.

Leo scanned the clearing in front of them. "Looks clear, I think we can make a run for it."

Almas tensed up and made ready to dash across the abandoned rail tracks to the safety of the woods on the other side. The course had sounded simple when the instructors had been talking.

_This will be a practical test of your navigation and evasion skills. Make it from one the landing craft on the beach to the town. Avoid capture and detection. There will be obstacles. As this is only your first month here none of you will be expected to make it all the way. There will be a reward for the team that gets farthest. You will be monitored, good luck._

At which point the Seed instructor had unceremoniously booted them out of the landing craft and sailed away. Almas, still seething over the 'none of you will succeed' line, had immediately grabbed Leonard and swore a pact that they would make it to Timber or die in the attempt.

Since they had made that pact they had narrowly avoided injury over a dozen times as booby-traps, wandering SeeD 'teaching assistants' out for blood, and other obstacles of varying lethality barred their way.

Failure was looking more likely than success.

* * *

"They're not doing so bad."

Squall looked over at his fellow instructor. For the last five hours he had been mentally kicking himself in the head for taking this position. Squall had disliked most of his trainers when he had been a Seed trainee himself, a position which was becoming more paradoxical by the day now that he was one.

_Teach what you know_ had been Xu's advice for him before she departed for Galbadia Garden, so he did. Which was how he found himself here, hiding in the middle of a tree in itchy camouflage gear, watching as below him two students tried to decide whether it was safe to cross the open area in front of them.

Squalled checked his timepiece. "How well are they doing?"

Kays glanced at his map against his GPS and shrugged. "They're about halfway to Timber. Not so bad for two rookies. They'll be coming up on the second part of the test shortly."

Squall sighed. He had read the instructor's description for Magical Survival and Introduction, and had wondered what the hell Xu had been thinking when she told him to take the course-leader position.

He was uncomfortable. His own training was a distant memory in the back of his mind, wiped near-clean away by the almost constant use of Guardian Forces during the battle against Ultimecia. He could vaguely recall the old training regime and classrooms, long destroyed and rebuilt after the clash with G-Garden. But nothing as intense as this.

He was suddenly jerked out of his reverie by a tap on his arm. He looked across at Kays to see the instructor pointing down to the ground.

"They're going for it."

Squall looked down at the ground in time to see the two trainees jump up from their hiding place and make a dash across the rails to the forest. Kays grinned cruelly. "Let's get this show on the road. Sir."

_Sir._ Another side-effect of his reputation. Kays had graduated from Garden three years ahead of Squall, but acted like the younger man was his superior. _Just going to have to live with it,_ Rinoa had told him. He felt like a fraud as he nodded.

Kays sighed and closed his eyes. Squall watched as the instructor concentrated on the force granted to him for this exercise. The older man seemed to darken, as if the light was being sucked out of him. He didn't look around as the being materialised beside him, and without speaking descended into the forest.

Squall thought back to the two students he had seen arguing about the last places on the course. He mused that if only they had known what the word 'Introduction' had meant in the description, they might both have dropped out right then.

* * *

They could feel it like poison in the air.

After clambering into the safety of the woods Almas and Leo had slowed down, thinking that the vegetation would offer them a little more cover.

The young girl shivered and drew her gunblade, whether out of the cold or fear or anticipation she didn't know. _This is it. The moment you've been waiting for since you signed up._

Squall had been wrong. If he had been able to read Almas' thoughts he would have been surprised to find that both Leonard and Almas had actually thought long and hard about what the course name had meant, and that both had come to more or less the same conclusion.

_Magical Survival and Introduction._ The 'survival' part had been easy. But why 'magical'? _And introduction to what?_

The forest around them was getting noticeably darker. Almas felt something brush against her back and was about to swing around before she realised it was Leonard, guarding her rear. They were ready.

_Wrong._

And then the forest exploded.

* * *

Squall and Kays watched as the black shape descended from the trees onto the young trainees.

"This really isn't very fair." Kays mused. Squall didn't answer. He only watched.

* * *

_It came from nowhere._

Braches and leaves whirled around her and blocked her vision as a creature out of nightmare rushed out at her. Almas ducked as a massive black claw swung through the air where her head had been. Using her momentum she kicked out and leaped sideways away from the demon, trying to swing her gunblade as she fell, but finding only air with the blade. Leonard had already done the same, dodging aside and drawing and firing his pistols at the place where the demon

_had been_

It was gone. Almas scrambled for the nearest tree and looked around for her partner. Leonard was crouched behind a bush (_seriously?)_ across from herand was reloading as fast as he could. She could hear the dull _thud_ of metal hitting the ground again and again, and had already looked around to see if a third trainee had joined the fight before she realised that her hands were shaking so hard she was knocking her gunblade into the soil. She glanced back to see how Leonard was holding up and

_BANG_

She was thrown back. The tree she had been hiding behind seemed to explode and compress at the same time. An invisible fist punched her in the gut and drove her backwards into something that felt like a boulder. Looking up she saw devastation. The forest had been _cleared_. Compacted trees and bushes had been pushed down like a giant weight had been dropped on them, making a clearing in the middle of the woods.

_It was there._

Thoughts ran through her mind in a flash. Like everyone in her generation she had seen the shaky camera footage from the Galbadian invasion and the films of the assassination of the old president. She'd seen the SeeD soldiers fighting in the streets and the unearthly creatures they had controlled, and had one day dreamed of commanding a Guardian Force, but film hadn't brought across to her the sheer power she could feel radiating from the black

_man? no impossible not even close to a man  
_

that stood in the forest. A black and red spiked monster from a child's nightmare. She could hear a small popping noise and could only watch as bullets appeared next to the creature's head. _It was stopping the bullets in midair_.

Leonard charged, apparently intending to batter the monster to death with his pistol-handles. He didn't make it a meter before he dropped to his knees. His entire body felt like it weighed a ton. He dropped the guns he was holding as they became so heavy in his hands he feared they would tear his fingers off.

Then the creature looked towards Almas, as if noticing her for the first time. She could feel the mud beneath her and the dust and leaves brushing against her skin, as if her body had given up the fight and was trying to drink in the last dregs of sensation it could before the black spectre reached out for her life.

"_That's enough!"_

* * *

"That's enough." Squall repeated as he walked into the newly-made clearing. Diablos' head snapped around to look at the man. Squall already had his gunblade at his side, and while it wasn't pointed directly at the Guardian, it wasn't exactly pointed away either.

_Yeah, you remember the lamp. Time to go._

Diablos glared, the red lights that were his eyes seemed to blaze at the SeeD. Then suddenly the air around him blackened. Squall watched as a black sphere encased the creature, which then began to shrink. Within seconds it had vanished, and all that remained was himself, a devastated forest, and two terrified SeeDs.

* * *

She had never been so embarrassed in her life.

Almas had no choice but to accept as Squall (_the actual Squall Leonhart)_ helped her to her feet. The other instructor already had his hand around Leonard's shoulder and was leading him away. As soon as she was up she let go of his hand and steadied herself.

_One swing. _That was all she had managed. Leonard had at least managed to put up a fight. Almas had managed one clumsy dodge and a swing and then had fallen. Thoughts rose unbidden in her head, unwelcome memories from her childhood. _Just like a girl._

She didn't know whether to cry or punch someone.

* * *

Squall glanced back to see that Kays was taking the male trainee to the waiting truck for the ride to the landing craft, and then looked back at the girl. He could see the emotions running across her face. He didn't know what to say. He'd lived with Guardian Forces most of his life, they shared his head. Like people, some he got on with and some he didn't like so much. He couldn't remember if he had ever thought any differently and for a second felt a surge of anger towards them.

_Sure, we'll give you power, and in exchange all we want is a little breathing room in your mind. That's not such a bad deal right? Just a little of your memory. Your self._

He watched as the girl (_Alas? Amlas?_ He really needed to get better at names_)_ regained her composure. After taking a deep breath and straightening her uniform she saluted him. _Well she's got spunk at any rate._

"Permission to speak?"

Squall blinked and put on what Rinoa called his Command Voice. "Of course."

* * *

"How did we do?" Almas asked. _Stupid idiot idiot idiot. He probably only just got here. You think a hero like him has time to watch a trainee brat?_

Squall shrugged. "That's not for me to decide. You'll be graded back at Garden." The man looked thoughtful for a second and Almas wondered whether he was going to fail her right there and then. "From what I saw you didn't do as badly as some of the other groups."

She blinked. _Wait. _"You were watching the whole time?"

A shrug. "Yes. In fact-"

She punched him.

* * *

"_HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

"Shut up Zell, it isn't funny."

Zell swallowed the last of his hotdog and grinned. "Oh come on man it totally is."

Squall fingered the bandage on his cheek. The girl had practically gouged the skin off his face. Dr Kadowaki had said an inch closer to his eye and he'd have needed stitches. Now he had two problems. What to do with the trainee, and what to do when the restof Garden learned a first-year trainee had knocked him down.

The group had gathered at the cafeteria while the students were in classes. Zell had enquired why Squall was walking around with a giant bandage on his face, and Squall had, foolishly, told him.

He felt a pressure on his shoulder and looked over to see Rinoa with her hand on his shoulder. He had told her about his day when he had returned from the infirmary and she had been brooding on it ever since. She looked concerned.

"Did Kays really do all that?"

Squall shrugged. "It was in the mission guidelines. These kids have to get used to Guardian Forces eventually." _Better they're scared out of their wits here where they won't be hurt that badly than in a combat situation where that fear could kill them._

Rinoa crossed her arms and frowned. "I don't like him very much."

"He went too far. I'll have a chat with him." Quistis said darkly. She smiled. "And I'll talk with the girl. Can't have students going around beating on their instructors. Much less eminent heroes like yourself."

"Yeah, that's _our_ job." Zell said wolfishly. "Any hotdogs left?"

* * *

"That's it. I'm going to kill myself."

Li looked up from her textbooks and frowned. "Surely there were extenuating circumstances."

Almas was pacing back and forth in her room. Right now death by explosive decompression would have looked good to her. "_I punched Squall Leonhart in the face!"_

Leonard was grinning. "Was he mad?"

Almas looked at him like he had a particularly virulent strain of rabies.

Leonard shrugged. "Well, look at it like this: When they hang you for treason you can say with your last breath that you laid out the saviour of the world."

"I hate you and I wish you were dead."

"I hate you _both_ and I _will kill you_ unless you let me finish this and get some sleep."

Almas and Leonard both looked over at Li, hunched at her desk and scribbling furiously. "What'cha writing?" Almas asked.

Li didn't even look up from her work. "I met a Guardian today."

Leonard and Almas looked at each other in shock and then back at Li. They spoke at the same time: "Wait, what?"

Li sighed. She tended to speak in a clipped tone when she wasn't really paying attention to conversations. "I had Magical Theory and Introduction today. I met Siren. She was very nice. We talked for a while. I want to write down all of this before I forget it. Stop bothering me."

Leonard gaped. "Wait, you mean we crawled halfway across a muddy forest and got our _asses kicked_ by some demon _thing_, and you just sat down and had a _chat?_"

"Yes."

"Hate you. Want kill."

Almas climbed into her bed. Worrying about retribution for punching out her instructor could wait until the morning. When she had first got here she had thought she was going to blaze a trail through the Garden. If anything about this day had taught her anything it was about how far she had to go.

She had no idea.

* * *

* * *

Chapter three. Still need a proof-reader! Contact me if you're interested.


	4. Nightfall I

Night fell, and for some the day was ending.

"You don't like her do you?"

Squall looked away from the balcony in the apartment he and Rinoa shared. The young woman was staring at him intently, and he couldn't help but answer truthfully. "No."

Squall took a moment to marvel at his life. If he had told himself eight years ago that he'd be here he would have laughed in their face. _No, let's be honest. I wouldn't have said a thing. I would have stood there silently until they went away, or I found someplace else to be. _After spending his childhood looking at the world through a thick coating of emotional armour the last few years had been like a new life. He still had a ways to go, and sometimes he could feel the old ways slipping back, the desire to return to being an emotionless cipher and merely letting the world rush over and past him. But the desire became less and less with every passing day, and he knew there was only one real reason for that. Rinoa.

Rinoa sighed and fell back onto the twin bed. "Not a good sign in a teacher Squall, hating your first batch of students!"

Squall shook his head. "I don't _hate_ her. It's just…"

"She reminds you of him." Rinoa sat up and walked over to Squall. Before he could protest she had rested her arms on his shoulders and was staring deeply into his eyes. "She reminds you of Seifer."

"…Yes."

The thought remained unsaid between them. _Love never dies. You can kill it, maybe, but it never dies on its own. He rescued you before you ever met me, back when you were a freedom fighter and he was a dashing young mercenary. And I think even after all he did you were never able to bring yourself to hate him completely._

"Seifer is… Seifer's in the past." Rinoa's smile wavered for a second before returning full force and dragging a change of subject with it. "But that isn't the problem now is it! You have to figure out what to do with your little protégé."

Squall gaped. "She isn't my pro- she isn't!"

Rinoa laughed. _God I love her._ "Of course not, a young SeeD-in-training with a mysterious past-" She put her fingers to his lips as he opened his mouth to complain "-a mysterious past, and a bone to pick with authority."

"My past isn't mysterious. And I never had _that_ big a bone to pick with authority."

"You never punched Quistis out I'll give you that one. Or at least if you did she never told us about it."

Squall looked thoughtful. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

Before she could react Squall scooped Rinoa up with both hands and threw her onto the bed. He stood over her and smiled. "I think this problem can wait until tomorrow."

* * *

Night fell, and for some it brought no rest.

Quistis lay back in the chair with her eyes closed, a book unread in her lap. Ever since her abrupt desert trek she had had trouble sleeping. _Just a new year,_ she told herself. _It'll get better soon. _A new year, a new generation to train, a new cadre of young people to tutor, memorise, cajole and, eventually, send out into the world as mercenaries, diplomats and (Hyne willing) peacemakers.

The other person entered the room silently; the only sign of their coming the wind wafting faintly across Quistis' cheek as they moved behind her. She felt arms encircle her from behind and brought her hands up to meet them.

"Still can't sleep?"

The SeeD instructor smiled, eyes still closed. "I could try, but there's someone keeping me awake."

A light kiss on the cheek. "I won't stay long."

Quistis could feel the heat rising inside her as the tension between the two stretched out. _We play this little game like it has meaning. Could ever have any meaning. _"Are you sure?" _Stay._

The arms fell away from her and she felt the presence recede. "Some other night."

_Don't go._ But she couldn't say it. Knew that if she did their illusion would shatter as they had to face the realities of their position. As the other person vanished into the night the young woman was left alone again.

Quistis stood up and walked over to the window. She could see waves undulating just beyond her vision. _Nida must be taking us out over the oceans._ Quistis loved the sea, the endless calm and starry night you just didn't get near the towns of the mainlands. She could watch it for hours. She felt like she could become lost in it. She sighed. _Papers to grade, assignments to decide, paperwork to be filed._ Her mind wandered back to her visitor and she took comfort from the memories, and the the thought of memories to come.

_Always another night._

* * *

Night fell, and for some the day was just beginning

Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, looked out of the giant windows that the dawn sun, and sighed. He turned to look at the others in the room with him. "Well?"

Kiros shrugged and tugged on the collar of his immaculate uniform. Laguna had always teased him about that. _We're not in the military anymore pal. We quit. We're in _charge_ of a military, in fact._ To which the tall black man had always replied: _One of us quit, maybe._ "We knew this was coming eventually. What were we going to do about it, ignore it until it went away?"

Laguna noticed that the lines on his old friend's face had deepened over the last decade. _Decade? I'm getting old._ He thought back over the path that had led him here. _Never thought I'd end up in a place like this._ He caught himself before he could become lost in reverie, and looked over at the other person in the room.

"Vhat do you vhant me to say?" The small man in the elaborate costume adjusted the ruffle around his neck. "Vhe are making significant progress, and ze theories are ready to be put to ze test. Genius hass alzays been ze target of lesser intellect."

Kiros rolled his eyes and Laguna had to stifle a laugh. He always enjoyed how other people reacted to Odine. Some people's eyes glazed over and they zoned out. Others tried to keep up with the manic ramblings of the scientist-savant and became slightly crazy themselves. Kiros treated him like a precocious child, and Odine on his part treated Kiros like one of the idiotic jackbooted thugs Kiros always feared he would one day before. Laguna was just waiting for one of them to start sighing.

He watched as the small scientist grew steadily more agitated as he talked, until eventually he had no choice but to interrupt. "Professor this isn't exactly a problem of lesser intellects." _It's a damn big war machine getting bigger every year, and it's pointed right at us."_

Odine shrugged. "Zhen send out zher troops."

Kiros really did sigh this time. "We can't exactly knock their country over and say 'gee kids we couldn't help but notice these damn great guns you have cocked in our general direction, put 'em away'."

" Vhy not?"

Laguna watched in bemusement as the two men argued behind him. He turned to look out over the city. Esthar was just waking up to a new morning. Laguna looked down to see the sun shining through the towers of the city and smiled. More than that, he looked out at what the city represented. _The greatest marvel in the world, a future free of superstition, under our own control. Who knows where it could take us._

Laguna wasn't a mean-spirited man, but he couldn't help the thoughts from rising into his head.

_Galbadia. Don't you ever learn?_

_

* * *

_

Night fell, but some did not sleep at all.

The woman sat on the shores of Olesia, and waited.

The fact that the seaside was in the middle of the city wasn't worth remarking upon. The city lived and breathed during the day, and tore itself apart during the night, to wake the next morning nothing like it had been. Tomorrow the beach would be in a different place. She would still find it.

The waves lapped against her feet, and froze and crystallised as they touched her flesh. Shiva had always liked the seafront. There was no wind in this place unless she wished it, and on this night the sea was perfectly calm, a perfect mirror that reflected the city that bordered it and the stars above it.

Idly she stroked the furry green creature that rested millimetres above her lap. Carbuncle stirred as the ice-woman sighed, and curled tighter upon himself as the cold breath washed over him. Shiva was annoyed.

She watched as the newcomer walked over the beach towards her, and noted the hesitancy in her stride and posture. Shiva was not naturally a cruel person, but she still exhibited some of the nature of what she was and she couldn't help the thoughts that came as she watched the other woman approach.

_Weak._

Siren paused on the beachfront and looked out into the ocean. Even though Guardians could change the world as they saw fit (only to a small degree; the City was and would always be the City), it was impolite to recklessly alter another Guardian's personal space. "It's beautiful."

Shiva wouldn't be swayed. "You have to stop this, sister." She stood, brushing Carbuncle off her lap as she did so. The small Guardian awoke and caught himself before he hit the ground. With a small squeak of reproach towards Shiva for disturbing his rest he flew off, back into the winding dream of the city.

Siren tried to meet her 'sister's' gaze but found herself staring out at the ocean instead. Even though they had known each other for so long now, other Guardians had trouble with Shiva's stare. Her eyes were an incredible deep blue, but it was the blue of a glacier, and when she wanted it, utterly without warmth.

Shiva cut the younger (_but that meant nothing in this place_) woman off before she could begin to speak. "We have dark times ahead and we cannot be compromised by division. We have been given our _instruction_ and we will all carry it out. All of us." She glanced over at Siren and sighed when she noticed how scared the Guardian looked. _So different from out in the World. But then we all are._ "There'll be another time for personal feeling."

Siren opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Shiva wanted to reach out to the young woman and tell her everything will be all right, but before she could find the words or the strength, Siren had turned away and was walking back along the beach, away from her.

Shiva looked out at the sea and cursed her own nature. _But we were never given a choice. We are what we are._

She watched the sea until the sun came up.

* * *

Night fell, but night means nothing to those who have never known the day

_Faster, faster. _The light is so close they can feel it. Anxious and panicked, they turn towards the one in whom all their hopes are lain.

On his/her/it's part the one knows it can only be patient. Without any real sense of time he/she/it has no impatience. But their brothers/sisters only know that the light is so close now, and can do nothing but pester and implore for the answer, the only answer that matters:

_How much longer?_

And then there is a voice, from above. They can feel it reaching down to them below the earth, soothing and imploring patience. Their great work is already in place and now those who have been strong enough to break through and walk beneath the light have all the hopes of their siblings resting upon them.

But still they demand: _faster_.

* * *

And dawn comes, eventually, for all.

* * *

* * *

Apologies for spelling in grammar, this one was bashed out pretty late at night.


	5. The Machine Moves

Secretary-General Fury Caraway stared at the reports on his desk, lost in thought.

Caraway loved Galbadia. He'd sacrificed his golden years, the life of his wife, and the love of his daughter to protect and uphold the dignity of his nation. He'd read reports of invasion, subjugation of towns and villages and memos written in shaky hands of civilian causalities, and had always told himself that it had been for the good.

But now, with this woman stood in front of his desk, his faith wavered. He looked up from his paperwork into her eyes and was strangely reassured that there was a solid oak desk between him and her.

"It has to be done."

She blazed like a fire. Dressed all in red, with straight auburn hair that fell almost to her waist, she turned heads among his staff. Caraway had been a widower for decades now, but if she heard the whispers and rumours about the two of them she didn't give them a moment's thought. If any of his staff spent time with her however, the rumours would have ceased. Julia Heartilly had been Fury Caraway's love, and she had been a soothing presence, a warm counterpart to his military bearing. The woman in red was nothing like Julia Heartilly.

She was feral. There was no other description. Her clothes, posture, and above all her eyes all proclaimed the barely held-back desire to launch herself across the distance between them and devour him alive. She had been like that when she had first announced herself two years ago, and she was even more so now. He remembered that first meeting with crystal clarity.

_I will make Galbadia a nation of Gods among men,_ she had said, standing between the guards who had escorted her into the mansion, _and you will stand at their head._ He had believed her, instantly. He had been a general, the ruler of the strongest (his mind corrected itself after but a moment; _second-strongest_, and oh how that thought pulled at his pride) military in the world, and she had been nobody, a crazy (he believed then, and still sometimes now) naked woman who had marched up to his mansion and _demanded_ to see the headsman of Galbadia, and he had believed her.

_Two years and I know nothing about you. What made you like this? How do you know what you know?_

He met her gaze and resisted the urge to look away. "The retrieval process is complete on the…cargo you discussed, and will be here along with the Garden later this week."

She stared him down. "The SeeDs arrive today. Our course is set." She pivoted on one foot and strode out as Caraway stared after her. A picture-frame on his desk caught his eye, and he looked at the face of his daughter. His one greatest regret; he knew that she would never truly love him, but his heart had always kept the hope alive that one day she would come around.

Now he prepared to sever that last thread of hope.

_Hyne forgive me._

* * *

"_Is this a joke?"_

_Squall couldn't see the woman at the other end of the phone, but he would have sworn he could hear the smile in Xu's voice. "Of course not commander." She knew he hated that title. "As the highest-ranking officer of SeeD it's only correct that you should be there when one of our facilities is re-opened."_

_Squall leaned back in his chair and thought back over the situation. The crippling damage of G-Garden during the Sorceress War had been a constant thorn in SeeD's side recently, ever since repairs to T-Garden were completed, and Galbadia had been left the only city-state left without a SeeD academy. Negotiations to repair the massive structure had been going on for years now and nobody, but nobody, could seem to find a way through the politics and red tape to get the thing up and running again._

"_Xu I really don't think I need to be there, it's just a ceremony to celebrate getting the damn thing back on Galbadian territory. It's barely even fit to live in never mind train out of. The whole thing is a PR exercise for the general."_

_Xu would not be deterred. "It will demonstrate our willingness to put the War behind us and focus on the future." _And,_ she didn't have to say_, it will let Caraway know that the people who wrecked it first time around are keeping an eye on things. _"The ceremony is in a week, I expect you there." And before Squall could think of a response she had hung up._

_He dropped the phone and looked over at the others present in the spacious office Squall used for official business. "What do you two think?"_

_Cid looked thoughtful for a second before replying. "It makes sense. Galbadia has always been a proud nation, losing its Garden stung that pride. Getting it back on their soil would go a long way to healing that wound. Quistis?"_

"_I agree," the blonde replied shortly._

_Squall sighed and mentally shrugged. "Well, if- What?" he said, as an evil smile spread across Quistis' face._

"_I've been thinking about your young assaulter."_

"_Yes, and?"_

"_I think we may be able to kill two birds with one stone."_

* * *

Which was how SeeD trainee Almas Jordin (2nd Class) had found herself assigned as escort duty to Commander Leonhart, bored out of her skull, as he attended what she could only assume was some kind of Galbadian 'Please Take Us Seriously Again' ceremony. She cleared her throat. "Permission to speak sir?"

Squall looked across at her and blinked, as if unused to being addressed so. "Given."

Almas waved her hand out of the limo the group was travelling in. So far nothing much had happened at all. They had arrived at the station and been met by a couple of Galbadian military goons currently were travelling towards Deling City. "What's the deal with this ceremony anyway? The G-Garden's still wrecked right? Haven't they just towed the thing back here?"

Squall had begun to answer when the third member of their little delegation stirred. "I'll take this one boss."

Irvine Kinneas sat up straight and looked directly at Almas as he answered. "A Cetra shelter ("You know that's what Gardens were right?" She nodded. "Good") is a pretty big damn deal if you have one."

Invincible relics of a long-gone civilisation, the shelters were the last remnants of the ancient Cetra people. Almas had known of their history when she had arrived at Balamb, but seeing it on the news hadn't been able to bring across the sheer size of the seashell-like buildings.

The laconic cowboy went on about their history and refurbishment as working academies. Almas sighed and tuned him out. She had been confused as all hell when her punishment had been handed down, and had shown the instruction card to Li. The young woman had just laughed and shook her head. _You wonder why bodyguard work is a punishment? Bodyguard to _Squall Leonhart?_ Oh you'll see._ She had been right. Damn her.

The limo pulled into the city outskirts and Almas tried to crane her neck to see down its length towards the city. She had passed through Galbadia on her way to Balamb but had never been close to Deling. Fisherman's Horizon where she had grown up, and Garden where she lived were almost picturesque dwellings of peace and serenity, but she had never been the type to appreciate the quiet. She could feel civilisation's pull like a magnet.

* * *

It was dark when the limo finally pulled up outside Deling Manor. Lights illuminated the three SeeDs as they climbed out of the car and stared at the opulent residence of Galbadia's leader.

"Brings back memories?"

Squall glanced over at Irvine and smiled slightly. "Only if they send us out to a tomb looking for a bunch of numbers."

Irvine shook his head. "Doesn't feel like home anymore." The cowboy looked around at the city, even in the evening lit up with lights music drifting up the hill from the lower districts. He sighed. "I always thought about coming back here after the War ended, but never found the excuse."

"They always say you can't go home again," Squall said, his eyes on the mansion as they walked towards it. He could see Irvine lagging behind and feel trainee Jordin at his back like a good guard-dog. By her body-language on the way here he could tell Quistis had chosen her punishment duty well. Her desire to escape him and explore the city was almost palpable.

Irvine had already read his mind, and Squall despaired as he saw the dumb grin appear on the man's face. _Just spit it out, I know you're planning something._

The cowboy put on an insolent slouch. "So listen boss, looks like you won't need us around, with all these soldiers here. What say we head over to the hotel and wait for you there?"

Squall thought about it for a moment. He remembered his own times as a bodyguard when _he_ had been a trainee, and relented. _The girl's learned her lesson and Irvine's been distracted since we got here. What the hell. Cut them loose._ He nodded.

Irvine smiled and turned to Almas. "What say we take in the city for an night-" Squall coughed meaningfully "-for an hour or two?" The pair walked off chatting animatedly about Deling hotspots.

Squall looked back at the mansion as he heard a door open, and a soldier gestured him inside.

_Let's get this over with._

* * *

_Hyne I'll light a dozen candles in the Garden chapel when we get back, I promise._

Almas strolled down the hill towards the waiting city, mentally singing for joy as Irvine's parting words went through her mind.

_Look, we're third wheels around here kid. Take off for the night, see the sights. Just make damn sure to get back to the hotel _before_ morning, okay?_

It was almost overwhelming. Unlike Leonard who had travelled the world since he was little, and Li who had been raised to be the picture of Dollet nobility, Almas had never been anywhere as cosmopolitan as Galbadia. Only her natural caution kept her from running from place to place like a child in a sweetshop. Feigning calm, she began to walk through the city with a smile plastered on her face, unaware of the eyes watching her.

Scene Break

Squall and Caraway squared up against each other.

Neither man had ever held much feeling for the other. Squall had always been suspicious of what he saw in Caraway as a hunger for power since the Deling Assassination, and Caraway had always held that Squall had stolen Rinoa away from him to become a trained killer. Both were wrong, but some feelings are deeper-held than mere talking can fix.

A soldier shut the door to Caraway's study as the two entered.

Squall thought over the possible options, and decided that military decorum would get him through this with minimal embarrassment. "Sir."

Caraway sat down behind his desk and looked over at Squall. "And how is my daughter, Commander?"

Squall ignored the crack at his military rank. "She's fine, sir." He focussed on a spot just above Caraway's head. "The ceremony is still to go ahead?"

Caraway waved the question away. "I never did get the chance to thank you for saving her from Adel. Or that Esthar machine." The name of the country was almost spat out.

_No change there then._ But… _This isn't right. _ "Err… it was no problem sir." _And why do you bring Esthar up? This isn't some grand policy meeting, just a polite notice that hey, we're here._

Caraway began to talk about his plans for the ceremony but Squall wasn't listening. He was asking a question, but not to the General. _This doesn't feel right at all, something's going on._

_I agree_, Shiva replied.

Squall could feel the cold bone-deep inside himself as the Guardian talked to him. In the past he had always matched up well with the woman, and the pair had survived the Sorceress Wars together, but recently (_after Rinoa, admit it_) her presence in his mind had felt uncomfortable. But still, he trusted her over all the other Guardians he had junctioned with. _Be ready for trouble._

_Always, old friend._

"Commander Leonhart?"

He was jerked out of his magical conversation as Caraway addressed him. He looked directly into the generals eyes and was instantly tense. There was steel in the old man's gaze. "General?"

"I'm sorry."

* * *

_I'm being followed._

Almas could feel it. She had spent hours wandering the city, looking in through shop window boutiques at things her meagre trainee allowance would never get her in a million years, and had been aglow with the warmth and feel of a city's summer night wrapped around her. But then she had felt the eyes, boring into her like drills.

She ducked around the next alley and checked on her weaponry. Irvine had warned her about the reception SeeDs could expect in Galbadia, and she had put her jacket on over her Seed trainee uniform as soon as she had left the mansion. She hadn't brought her gunblade, only a pair of combat knives stowed in her belt, and while she was competent with them she cursed herself for not bringing her personal weapon.

She paused at a shop window and used it as cover to scan the street behind her. A flash of red in her vision told her the would-be tracker was still with her. She glanced across at an alley and made her decision.

She pushed off from the balls of her feet and was running in a second. She heard a scuffle behind her but didn't turn to look. Reaching the alley she grabbed the knives from her belt and made sure she couldn't be seen from the street as she spun around and went into a combat stance.

_Alright, whoever you are, let's see just how big a mistake you've made. _

* * *

In a millisecond the gunblade was pointed at Caraway. "What have you done?" Thoughts ran through his head at lightspeed. _Can't smell gas. No sound from the door. Can't hear any weapons being drawn. He's unarmed, hands aren't moving, and no alarms I can hear._

Caraway didn't so much as flinch. "You're under arrest Commander."

_What the hell? _He stalled. "On what charge?"

"Murder."

_What the _hell? "Of who?"

Caraway sighed, and when the next sentence was spoken Squall could have killed the man without regret, as he realised how stupid he had been.

"Whoever that girl was you came with."

_Oh my god._

* * *

The eyes had captured her.

Almas stared at the woman who had been following her. She couldn't move. In the dark of the alley the woman dressed in red faced down the young SeeD. She held up her knives to defend against whatever was coming but she couldn't meet that monstrous gaze. _She hates me. I have no idea who she is and she hates me._ She blinked.

_She was gone._

The world slipped sideways and pain shot through Almas as she felt something hit her side and threw her into the alley wall. Her body remembered her training as her mind thought back to the encounter with Diablos and shouted _no, never again_ at her muscles. She ducked under the next punch and felt masonry cascade over her. She leaped sideways to get some distance between her and her attacker and felt a foot whirr past her head. She rolled and came up in a fighting stance as the woman in red dragged her hand out of the wall (_she punched through the _wall_)_ to face her.

Putting as much SeeD discipline and menace as she could into her voice she shouted across. "You don't want any of this."

"Yes, I do."

The voice went through her like a wire through butter. She dropped her knives in shock as the sound bounced into and through her and her mind could only scream back one word at her over and over:

_Mother._

And then the woman was upon her.

* * *

_I've been a fool._

Squall lowered his gunblade and looked into Caraway's eyes. "Call them off. Call off your soldiers. I'll come quietly."

Caraway shook his head. "No. Surrender now or Irvine Kinneas will share her fate. We have his hotel room surrounded as I speak."

_I never thought you for this Caraway. A politician and a nationalist and a soldier, yes._

_But never a killer._

Squall's mind cried back at him. _You let her go! You told Irvine and Jordin to leave!_

In a second the years since the War flashed before Squall's eyes: _Commander. I only ever treated my position like a nuisance. I let Quistis and Xu make the decisions. I never took it seriously. Now one of _my_ students is going to die and I caused it._

Soldiers marched into the room and surrounded him, and Squall let himself be led away. He spared one glance at Caraway, who met his gaze. He no longer had any sympathy or care left for the older man but in that moment Squall could have swore he saw regret in the general's eyes.

Squall glanced back once at Caraway as the door to the office swung shut on him, and saw the man on the phone, soldiers surrounding him.

General Caraway.

* * *

"I am done here."

The woman looked down at the broken shape before her and thought of the man on the other end of the mobile communicator. _A useful coward dreaming of glory. I will give you your glory, but the empire you dream of will never be your own._

The girl moaned pitifully and the woman knelt down beside her. She cradled the child's head in her arms and whispered at her soothingly as she tore strips off her shirt and wrapped her dripping wounds.

_Sister of my heart._

_

* * *

_

_What's wrong. What's wrong. What's wrong._

Rinoa Heartilly paced. She could feel the panic rising in her heart and see that she was disturbing the other two but she couldn't help it A small voice inside her head squeaked at her imploringly but she ignored Carbuncle's questions.

She spun around as the door to the Headmaster's office opened. She was moving towards Quistis before the other woman was even inside the room. "What's happening?" She calmed slightly when she saw the blonde's movements. Years of friendship had given them a connection beyond words. But then Quistis turned towards the two teenagers in the room and Rinoa's eyes widened.

"Ms Nuo? Mr Nerva?" The two students nodded nervously, neither having no idea why they had been called up to the Headmaster's office.

"I'm so sorry."

As Quistis talked, Rinoa's fear deepened and took hold. And for the first time since the Sorceress War had ended, she became truly afraid.

And angry.


	6. Fire Break

"Are they out of their minds?"

"Zell-"

"Are they out of their Hyne-damned _minds?"_

"Would you at least try to calm down?"

Rinoa watched as Zell shouted insults and pounded the table the group sat around, dangerously close to breaking something. Secretly she envied the outgoing man his angry outbursts; Rinoa had always had trouble being angry at anything, and now that she really _really_ had a reason to be, she didn't know how to react.

_The most important person in my life is being kept away from me and all I can do it sit here._

The group were gathered in Balamb Garden's war-room. A team of students mapping out the basement levels had discovered a large oval room with electrical cables leading to every corner of the massive Cetra shelter. Xu's maintenance staff had eagerly set upon it and converted it into a bomb-proof bridge you could run a war from. _And we just might have to_. It was this room that Rinoa, Quistis and Zell were sat in now, around a table that was displaying the face of one of Galbadia's news anchors.

Rinoa felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked over at Quistis. Ever since the Sorceress War the older woman had always been there for her, someone she could turn to for advice, or to share a meal or training session, or just a shoulder to cry on. Recently their still-unexplained disappearance and odysseys had given them another connection. Rinoa had been an only-child, but in the last few years at Garden she had found an older sister at last.

"He'll be fine," Quistis whispered gently.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered back.

Zell stopped gesticulating and turned to Rinoa. "Hell Rin, he's probably broken out already. We got out of that dumb prison back when we were _students_."

Quistis nodded reassuringly. "Caraway has to know if he harms Squall the Gardens will unite behind Balamb and go utterly berserk." She gestured at the screens around her. "With Selphie at Trabia and Xu in G-Garden they'd be fighting a war on three fronts."

One part of Rinoa couldn't help but think: _War. It's only been a few years and already we're back in arms. Why does it keep coming to this? Is it some basic flaw in humanity? Every so often we just _have _to beat the plowshares into swords and start going at it?_

And another part, smaller, but one she knew would always be there and had learned to live with, said:_ You could stop it in an instant. Go over to Deling and _make_ it stop. Burn the city to the ground. _But she had learned to ignore the Sorceress inside her. Down that path was a future she could imagine all too well, one they had all seen in the fields that day in front of Ultimecia's castle. Her mind was jolted out of the reverie when a small voice sounded next to her.

"RiNoA?"

Rinoa looked across at the last person in the room. Although person was not entirely the correct term.

Carbuncle floated next to her, a soft green light surrounding a small green animal that resembled a cross between a large rabbit and a cat, a huge flawless ruby set in its forehead.

Rinoa felt a small smile come to her lips. Of all the Guardians she had met since her fate had crossed that of SeeD all those years ago, Carbuncle had always set her at ease. The magical creature had a child-like innocence crossed with an honesty and openness she found rare compared to his fellow-travellers, none of whom she had ever really felt comfortable around. "Yes?"

"IT's AlL gOiNg To Be AlL rIgHt, IsN't It?"

Rinoa nodded and idly stroked Carbuncle's fur. She'd gotten so used to the Guardian's frenetic speech that she could instantly translate in her head. On his part Carbuncle took this as its cue to float over to her and curl itself into a green fuzzy ball on her lap. "Of course it is." _And thank you, at least, for giving _me_ someone to reassure._

"We CaN hElP! wE'rE tHe BeSt At HeLpInG!" Carbuncle leapt up and did a small loop in the air, green sparks flying from his small form. One of them landed on Rinoa's cheek and she brushed it away. A small burning sensation where it landed reminding her that even this tiny cute creature was a being of inhuman power.

Quistis spoke up from across the table. "And you just might." The SeeD smiled as Carbuncle radiated happiness. "One of your…friends?"

"BrOtHeRs!"

"Brothers, sorry. One of your brothers is actually helping us right now." Quistis tapped the table, which was still repeating the words of the bulletin broadcast across Deling that evening. The words rang through Rinoa's head like an unwanted drumbeat: Squall Leonhart. SeeD. Murder. "Did anyone else notice what they _didn't_ mention?"

Zell nodded instantly. "Irvine."

Rinoa felt as if one of the smaller weights on her shoulders had been lifted as Quistis went on. "Exactly. They didn't even mention a second SeeD involved in the whole debacle, which means they don't have him. He has to have heard the news by now, and there's no way they'd risk moving Squall out of Deling while there's a SeeD hunting him down."

Zell punched the air and whooped gleefully. "Which means he's going to be out there in Galbadia kicking _ass!_"

"AnD uS! We'Ll Be HeLpInG!" Carbuncle was practically doing cartwheels. One of his human-friends was in danger, and now his kind could help that danger go away.

For the first time that night Rinoa felt a surge of hope. _Get him back to me, please._

* * *

The night had started well for Irvine Kinneas when people he didn't know had started shooting at him, and it had only gotten better from there.

"Let me give you fellas several points to ponder while you're stood there."

Irvine rocked back on the chair he was occupying and viewed his current situation. Four of the soldiers who had clearly been sent to arrest him were lying unconscious at his feet. Two more had their weapons pointed at him from across the room, their weapons shaking badly in their hands.

And one was suspended head-down in the air.

"Now if you boys can be persuaded to listen to reason," Irvine spoke slowly, "I think we can get out of this situation without any more…_unpleasantness_. We don't want any more people hurt now do we?"

"YES WE DO." Ifrit rumbled menacingly.

"No no no, I think our guests have gotten the point." Irvine sighed and patted the huge beast on the back. "Simmer down there big guy." He silently high-fived the instinct in his head which had told him to take more than the standard firepower on this little bodyguard operation. Irvine had always liked Ifrit. The fire god didn't mess around with tact or subtlety, he just went for the nearest thing to hit, and then hit it. He also had the same approach to conversation.

"CAN I HIT THEM ANYWAY?"

After splitting up from Almas (_Hyne rest her soul_) instead of taking in the town he had opted to just go and get some sleep, which was why he had been watching television in his hotel room when the bulletin about Squall Leonhart and murder had flashed on the screen.

_No way._

When the soldiers came he had been ready. The two that came through the door had been put down before they could sight their guns on him, the two after them had been shot through the wall and were on the floor nursing the new holes in their legs, and the last three hadn't even had time to realise something had gone very wrong when a monster had burst, flaming hot and mad as hell, into existence next to them and picked one of them up by the ankles. For all of his bravado and self-deprecation, Irvine Kinneas was a SeeD-trained mercenary, and SeeD only graduated the best. His abductors had never stood a chance.

Irvine adjusted the collar of his freshly-stolen uniform as he looked over at the two terrified soldiers. "You kids let me know what I need to and maybe you walk out of here. Where's Squall Leonhart?"

The braver of the two shook his head. The effect at bravado was ruined however when the smaller one spoke up. "Deling Manor." He shrugged as the older solider shot him a poisonous glance.

_Caraway's keeping him _there?_ Cocky bastard. _"Thanks a ton. Guess we're done here. Ifrit?"

"But you said- _HEY!"_

The luckless marine was cut off as Ifrit used his now-unconscious soldier as a club to batter the two into insensibility. Unlike other SeeDs Irvine had never used Guardian Forces extensively, and his childhood memories remained intact, and those memories would not _allow_ him to ignore Squall's plight. Also unlike the other SeeDs, Galbadia Garden had trained him to be an assassin, and he had never shied away from more extreme measures than the Balamb curriculum taught. He could feel the anger flowing through him like a river, kept beneath the surface but ready at a moment's notice to be unleashed. He looked over at Ifrit. "Time to go."

The great fire demon nodded. "ANYTIME." With a flash he was gone, the only sign that he had ever been there a scorched carpet and seven unconscious soldiers. Irvine felt his presence appear in his head. _LET'S PAINT THE TOWN FIRE._

_You mean 'paint the town _red_'. _He chuckled at Ifrit's attempt at human dramatics. _But no arguments there buddy._

_No arguments at all._

* * *

Squall Leonhart idly fingered the ring on the chain looped around his neck. _How the hell do I get into these situations._

_Rinoa will be worried sick._

That one thought kept him alert and on edge. He was being kept in a small guest room in Deling Manor, with guards posted in triplicate on the other side of the door. It was also a room that had a television, and Squall had been watching when the news had been announced, the words shouted at him through the screen like an accusation.

_Murderer murderer murderer._

His fist slammed the wall, startling the guards outside. Thoughts ran through his head and every mistake he had made came back full-force, every sign he should have noticed that had got him into this situation and a young SeeD cadet dead on his watch.

He became aware of a commotion outside the room and forced himself to focus on what fragments of conversation he could hear.

"_Can't go in…he's…dangerous…."_

"_You ques… my order?"_

"_Caraway says…"_

"I_ say."_

A resigned sigh. _"Lady, if you can't see how dangerous this man is you deserve everything you get."_

Squall stood back from the door as it opened, ready for whatever came through. If it was Caraway nothing, he decided, was going to keep his hands from the old man's throat.

What walked in though surprised him so totally he was struck dumb. The fiercest woman he had ever seen walked in the room, clad in what looked at first glance like a red-and-black dress with sheer red gloves, but as she walked closer the familiar stench of fresh blood wafted through the room. She was wiping them off in her hands with some black handkerchief with a familiar pattern, and it took Squall a second to notice the design.

A torn and bloody SeeD uniform.

Something broke in his head. Worry for Rinoa, sorrow for his own mistakes and above all fury, pure fury, at this woman, at Caraway, at the whole miserable country of Galbadia combined and smashed through his cold exterior like a bullet through glass.

He snarled and leapt.

* * *

Almas Jordin's world was pain.

She opened her eyes and everything hurt. She tried to shut them against the pain but it forced its way past her defences and sank itself deep into her bones.

_Oh god, what happened?_

She remembered the woman in the alley and shuddered. She could barely feel what had been done to her, but she could remember the emotions that had risen when she had spoken, and it took a conscious effort to remind herself of the truth:

_Your mother is dead. She died giving birth to you. That woman was not your mother. Your mother was not a woman like that._

She risked opening her eyes again against the pain. A white wall came into focus, pock-marked with black. She squinted, and the black marks eyes resolved themselves into a young man sat on a chair against the wall, a book in his hand. He looked to be only a few years older than she was, and she couldn't help but shake the feeling she knew him from somewhere. She frowned with the effort of recollection, and the pain made her groan weakly. She tried to shift her body away from the pain, and felt a dull scraping on her skin, like dried blood and wounds trying to re-open.

_It is._

The noise must have been enough though, because the man looked up from the book and into her eyes.

And she saw nothing.

* * *

His head spun. Squall was vaguely aware that he was upside down, but the pounding in his head denied him any deeper thought.

Groggily he slipped down the wall into a prone position, and

_I got thrown into a wall._

lay there.

He tried to sit up and went back over the last few seconds in his head. He had charged at the woman, intent on disabling her (_not killing, not an unarmed woman, not even one who one who-)_ and getting past her to the guards, hoping to find them distracted and (_don't kid yourself Squall, no weapon no magic no Guardian they would have gunned you down_) complacent. Instead he had saw his fist sail through the place where the woman's solar plexus should have been, felt a strong grip pick him up by the neck and waist, and felt himself thrown through the air to the other side of the room.

"We meet at last."

Squall looked up at the woman. Insultingly, she didn't even seem out of breath after picking up a fully-grown man and hurling him several dozen meters. He tried to speak, but his mouth wasn't doing what he wanted it to, and all that came out was a thick; "You…"

The woman stood over him. Even on the ground Squall could see she was at least his height. A hand reached down and pulled him up, and he found himself looking directly into her eyes. It looked like she was staring right through him.

When she spoke Squall heard the disappointment and anger in her voice. "Not you. Why not?"

_Why not what? Who the hell are you?_

_Why are you doing this?_

The hand holding him up relented and Squall caught himself before he could fall back to the ground. His vision swam with the effort of standing and he saw the other soldiers coming into the room. The woman in the red dress had turned away from him and was walking out. A man in ornate uniform (_CARAWAY) _stood outside the door and Squall fought unconsciousness to hear their conversation.

"_What…you…think…you're doing? What will..do if…dies?"_

"_They didn't…with him…worthless to us."_

"_I…in charge of…operation!"_

"_Do what…want…I will…the other…may have…luck."_

The effort became too much, and Squall felt darkness swim into his vision. He could only reach for one more thought before it overwhelmed him.

_Rinoa._

* * *

The eyes were black. Where the iris and whites should have been only black orbs stared out at her.

She watched as the man dropped the book he was reading on the floor and stood. He walked over to her and as he did the room she was in swam into focus. She was nowhere she knew, but she felt a sense of dread; white walls, white bedclothes, equipment scattered around. _Hospital._

She watched with vague interest as the man stood over her, reached out a hand and spoke only two words:

"I'm sorry."

She tried to fight against gravity but couldn't lift her arms. Panic descended on her as the hand rested lightly on her forehead and ran down her face. She felt her eyes close, and a sense of peace fell over her, and she knew no more.

* * *

Irvine ran through the streets of Deling, the lights of the Mansion on the hill getting closer by the moment. Checking his gun for what seemed like the hundredth time that minute, he signalled to his partner-in-crime.

_Be ready._

_I AM ALWAYS READY._

As he climbed the hill towards Deling Manor he put his hands in front of his face to block the glare of the streetlights, and it saved his life.

_What the f-_

His muscles reacted faster than his brain, and his legs threw him sideways before he even realised he was under attack, which was why the streetlight sailed past him and buried itself into the concrete behind him, and not his chest.

Irvine adjusted his position behind the car he found himself behind, and viewed the scene dumbstruck. _That's a god damn steel lamp-po-_

Ifrit's cry rang through his head: _IRVINE! LOOK OUT!_

Without thinking or questioning he leapt out from cover, rifle already pointed up the hill towards his attacker and spitting bullets as he ran for whatever cover he could find. The car he had been hiding behind crumpled as something smashed down on it from above. He could only spare a glance behind him but it appeared to be a chunk of the street.

"_FACE ME!"_

Irvine risked a glance from his new hiding place and saw the most beautiful redhead he had ever seen, standing at the crest of the hill and snarling down at him. The light from the streetlights seemed to shrine through her, making her blaze like the sun.

Plans ran through his head and were discarded. _At least two-hundred meters between me and her, threw that stuff god how strong could she be threw that stuff straight enough to get me if I didn't move, can't let her get close can't- _and in the end he could only think of one thing that might work.

"IFRIT!"

The Guardian roared to life in the middle of the street. Streetlamps burned out and melted as the unholy fire from the creature's summoning radiated out, the tarmac below him sizzling. Irvine took cover in that moment and just tried to watch.

The woman grinned fiercely, and Irvine, even all the way down the hill, could hear the words she spoke not at him, but at the Guardian itself:

"Finally. _Finally_."

And to Irvine's shock, Ifrit stepped back.

* * *

Squall felt the tremors from inside the mansion.

Groggy and unsure of himself he got to his feet. SeeD training overwrote the mere human parts of his brain that told him to just stay down and sleep it off, and he scrambled towards the open door.

_What the hell's happening out there?_

The door was left ajar and nobody was guarding it.

_Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth Leonhart._

He ran out. He could vaguely feel himself getting hotter but put it down to his returning consciousness.

"SQUALL!"

He looked around to see who could possibly be shouting his name, and felt a small smile come to him. "What took you so long?" The smile faded however, when he saw the look on Irvine's face.

"We have to go _now_!" Without a second thought the cowboy put his hand under Squall's arm and heaved. Ignoring cries of protest he began to drag Squall back into the manor. "We have to get away from the street!"

_What's going on?_ Squall could really feel the heat now. _What in Hyne's name is going on?_

But above that another thought broke through the confusion, one which made him sing inside:

_Rinoa, I'm coming home._

* * *

The battle was felt and watched in the City. Those who were important enough, were powerful enough to be able to pierce past the energies and veils between Olesia and Galbadia could only watch in fear and hope as Ifrit and the _thing_ clashed.

Shiva watched, her expression no different than if it was a game or sport. Here in the bowl-shaped forum at the centre of the invisible City, those who knew her well would recognise her unnatural calm and chill for what it was, and would give her wide berth.

All save one, who feared nothing.

The great dragon.

The King.

"We Knew This Day Would Come."

Shiva did not look around as Bahamut entered the forum, and did not reply.

"Are You Afraid?"

Shiva shook her head and remained mute.

"A Hard Choice To Be Made. But We Will Triumph As We Always Have." A talon gestured towards the two combatants. In Galbadia the street was a molten river now, the humans Kinneas and Leonhart had fled, unable to remain close to the Guardian for fear that the sheer heat of Ifrit's anger would consume them as well. "The _Thing_ Is Consumed With Vengeance, Seeking Blame For Its Past Failure."

_As we once did._ But she did not dare say it aloud.

"That Blame Will Fall Here Soon."

Bahamut's wings swept out and the dragon reared up, as if to encompass the entire building they stood in and crush it beneath him. "But We Are One People Now And We Will Not Relinquish Our Grasp On Our Possessions, Our Great Jewel, Our City. Not Now."

"Not Ever."

And at that pronouncement that would herald the death of a world, even Shiva found a chill running through her body.

* * *

* * *

It's come to my attention I've been using the wrong phrase for the SeeD cadets. I'll be using the right one from now on. Chapter written and uploaded In The Dead of The Night (TM) so apologies for terrible grammar or spelling. Reviews welcome.


	7. Ice Stained Memories

"_Astonishing footage from two days ago as what was confirmed to be a Destruction Monster from Balamb Garden wreaked havoc in Deling city after SeeD commander Squall Leonhart's murder of a Galbadian citizen-"_

Irvine stared silently at the television above the bar as they watched Ifrit rampage across the street, throwing fire and chunks of pavement around, apparently aiming at nothing at all. No sign of the woman the Guardian had been fighting.

"'Destruction Monster'?" he whispered into his drink, "What crap."

Squall shrugged. "It's technically true." A pause, then: "Is he going to be okay?"

Irvine tapped the side of his head. "It was a damn close thing but I think the big guy will be fine. Except for his pride maybe."

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Talk about it when we get back. Not here." Irvine turned back to the television as the grim-faced anchorwoman went on. _"-no comment from SeeD about the murder charges on their leader. The mercenary group's forward base in Galbadia-"_

Irvine pulled him eyes away from the screen and back to reality. The two were resting in a small bar in a village outside Deling after hiking their way out of the city to plan their next step, their first having been to spend a frantic midnight hour stealing from a Deling laundry. The two men now sat quietly in a corner table could now could have been mistaken for any Galbadian citizen out for a trip to the countryside. However any thoughts he and Squall may have had about a speedy return to Balamb had been crushed and swept away by Xu when they had gotten through to her on a public phone.

_You're a wanted killer now and that stunt in Deling against their general- no don't correct me Kinneas, I'm telling you what this looks like from their point of view- has the army out for blood. Either: You killed a Galbadian civilian and attacked their general or; a SeeD brutally murdered another SeeD on their territory; either way their media plays it we're killers on Galbadian soil. People don't like foreigners in Galbadia, they certainly don't trust SeeD, and they are flat-out terrified of Guardians, especially when they start smashing up houses. You don't go near cities, you don't take a train, and you _certainly_ don't come to G-Garden, this place is going to be swimming in Galbadian Army 'advisors' any hour now. _Irvine had tried to argue but she hadn't given him the chance. _You get to Dollet and you wait there and you try not to blow anything up in view of any cameras._

_The woman is a force of nature._ Irvine tipped back his drink and glanced around at the other patrons. _They're scared._ For the last two days the news at blared at them from every television they passed. Even more than their names though, what had ran over and over had been the footage of Deling being torn apart, with a giant demon spitting fire in the middle of the screen.

"Can't blame them."

Irvine looked across at Squall. The man was looking unusually morose. "Squall Leonhart, trying to understand the point of view of the other guy?"

Squall shrugged. "Do you remember," he said, "when you first met a Guardian. I mean really _met?_"

Irvine chuckled. "I never grew up with them the same way you did, remember?" He stopped himself before he went on; _I never had my memories thrown out to make room for magic tricks._

Squall nodded, as if he had known what Irvine was going to say anyway. "We lost a lot when we started junctioning Guardians. More than we realised." He leaned back in his chair. "I remember that day though."

* * *

_Its fifteen years ago and Squall Leonhart is cowering behind the woman he thinks of as his mother. His breath freezes in his throat as the pretty lady in blue glances down from Edea to look at the small terrified boy peeking out from behind her knees. She speaks four words._

"_My name is Shiva."_

_Edea moves back and nudges Squall forward and suddenly there's nothing but cold air between the beautiful ice-woman and the human child. He tries to speak and say _my name's Squall, nice to meet you_ but he's shivering so hard he can't form the words properly. "I'm-m-m S-s-s-squall," is all he can manage._

"_Let's get on well together Squall." She speaks confidently, and Squall is reminded of when other grown-ups who visit the orphanage try to speak to him like they're the same age as he is, but coming from this woman it sounds insincere and he doesn't like it. _

_She tries to put her hand on his shoulder but he gasps at the cold and she quickly pulls it away. She looks back up at Edea, who nods slightly and moves to put herself between the boy and Shiva. Edea Kramer looks into Squall's eyes and he knows what she is about to say will be important. "Squall, this is a dear friend of mine who's going to be around us from now on. You won't see her or her friends all the time but she will help keep you safe, okay?"_

_The woman shimmers like light shining through a curtain, and suddenly there is nobody in the room except Squall and Edea. As the temperature rises the boy nods and wonders who the pretty lady's friends are. He had friends once but one by one they are leaving him._

_Even as his memories of these days start to fade, he will always remember the ice-woman and how she stood and moved, as if she was a rock that nothing could break. Even as his own heart hardens as his other childhood friends all leave or are taken away, he knows he will never be able to become a rock like her._

* * *

"I always wondered." Irvine took a swig of his beer and looked over at the bar. A group of men (_farmers probably, Galbadia doesn't let its tech very far away from the capital)_ had walked in while Squall was talking, and his SeeD's instincts were starting to light up.

"What's that?"

"Why you and Shiva seemed to get on so well." _And why tell me any of this anyway? The first time we met getting you to talk was like blood out of a stone. Guess Rinoa really did work on changing you_.

Squall shrugged. (_She's got a ways to go yet though,_ Irvine thought.) "We were similar people. And I knew her before I knew any other Guardians. Except maybe Quezacotl, but nobody knows what _he _thinks." He gestured around the bar with a hand and Irvine winced at the lack of subtlety. _You've _really_ got something on your mind big guy._ "Most people have never even seen a Guardian. Ifrit isn't exactly the most human of the bunch and now here they are, watching some foreign soldiery burn their city apart." He shook his head. "How could we expect them to understand?"

Irvine glanced around to see the men at the bar throwing glances their way. His SeeD instincts were practically blaring at him. "Squall."

Squall went still as he heard the tension in Irvine's voice. "Trouble?"

"Four of them, the bar. Unarmed." One of the men picked up a bottle by the neck. Another had his hands in his pockets and was clearly gripping something. "Check that. Definitely armed." Squall put his drink down on the table and left both his hands free, while Irvine put himself on the edge of his seat, while both waited for what came next.

"Hey you!"

A hand clapped down on Irvine's shoulder. Instantly he grabbed it and swung out of his seat, using his weight to drag the other man down as his fist rose up from beneath the table and smashed the man's nose and left him falling.

_One down._

As the other men reached for their weapons Squall braced himself against the wall and kicked out, his strength ripping the table up from its bolts and throwing the heavy metal square at the other three. As they clumsily warded it off with their hands he had already stood up and had thrown a right hook into the chest of the attacker closest to him. The man blinked in surprise and collapsed to the ground.

_Two down._

Irvine was already stepping over the man whose nose was now almost certainly broken and made a beeline for the remaining man on the right who had wisely hung back while his fellows had went down and was now cursing as he brought a knife out of his pocket and stabbed clumsily at Irvine's face. Irvine dodged easily to the side and grabbed the hand that held the knife as it went past, and squeezed. The farmer yelled in pain as the bones gave way and Irvine swept up the knife in his free hand as it dropped. Throwing it away he twisted around and took the man with him, throwing him against the wall where he slid to the ground and lay there in a heap, either unconscious or in no hurry to get up.

_Three down._

Squall faced the last man. The two watched each other warily, the man in a pale imitation of a fighting stance. _Ex-army?_ Irvine didn't have time to finish the thought as the man stepped forward and swung the beer bottle in his hand at Squall's head. _Amateur mistake_. Squall easily ducked under the blow, bringing his own hand up and throwing it as hard as he could into the man's shoulder. The arm went limp and the man dropped the bottle as bones cracked in the man's torso. He screamed in pain and started to drop, and Irvine saw Squall raise his fist, ready to bring his elbow down on the man's exposed neck. "_THAT'S ENOUGH!"_

Squall looked around and for a second Irvine could have could have sworn Squall was ready to punch _him_. Then Squall blinked and the moment was gone. He glanced around and could hear running, and saw the door open as someone ran out. Irvine would have bet good money they were headed for the nearest phone. _So much for evasion and concealment._

Irvine looked around at the other bar patrons who were staring in shock at the scene, four of their friends who had never lost a fight in their lives now bleeding against the walls and floor while two yuppie Deling businessmen stood above them. Irvine reached down into the pockets of the man closest to him. Grabbing a fistful of money, Irvine threw it on the remains of their table, looked around the bar and pointed at the men beneath his shoes. "A round on them." The bar patrons were still staring at them.

"Don't fucking mess with us."

* * *

"They did _what?_"

Caraway stared at the private in front of him in shock. _One humiliation on top of another._

The private in front of him was almost quaking at his boots. "They got into a bar fight sir, and after they won, they left the village."

Secretary-General Fury Caraway rubbed his forehead and cursed the very name of SeeD. _This has not started well. _He looked around at the screens as information bombarded into the war room. He had relocated to the bunker under Deling city after the destruction of the mansion _(my mansion!)_ and he couldn't help but think of it as running away.

His voice was like ice. "Explain to me why our military is unable to capture two men travelling on foot in my- in _our-_ country." He threw his hands up at the displays that were trying to track the two wanted men across the continent. "We didn't even know they were there until we got that phone-call!"

A general cleared his throat and spoke up as the rest stood stock-still, waiting for Caraway's anger to subside. "Sir, we were waiting on heavier weaponry."

"There was a full platoon stationed in that village."

The man looked nervously around, and his gaze alighted on one of the displays showing the Galbadian news. "We thought it unwise to send soldiers up against them when they can bring such…ah… firepower to bear on us."

"Not anymore they can't."

He swung around on his chair to look at the two people behind him, the only two in the base not in a Galbadian uniform. A private had been told to arrange for something that fit them, but the man had only said _no_ and nothing more, and the private had requested re-assignment rather than to ask the woman. "And why not? That…_creature_… laid waste to my mansion and half of that district in minutes." _Not that you tried very hard to stop him._ Caraway had seen the full footage of the battle, not released to the media. For all her lack of height compared to the beast, the woman had been at least as savage in her attacks as the magical creature she fought. "You're saying under attack they just; _wouldn't_ call it out?"

The man in black shook his head sadly, but it was the woman in red who spoke up: "I tore him apart."

One of the generals smirked. "With respect madam I don't think we can discount..the…" He trailed off as the full force of the woman's glare rested on him.

"You do not question me. It ran like a coward back to its pathetic home."

The man in black nodded. When he spoke several of the men in the room flinched in alarm. Caraway didn't, was used by now to the man's voice seeming to come from directly beside him. "The guardian is weak and has taken refuge in the mind of its owner. While he licks his wounds he is of no concern to us." He closed the book he was reading and tapped a screen with it. Instantly the display changed to a security camera that showed a white room, with a single occupant. "This, now, _is_ our concern."

Caraway glared at the pair. The man smiled softly, the woman glared back. "Why, exactly, are we concerned with some half-dead waif?" _She should be _all-_dead, her death our reason for war against the SeeDs, our first stepping-stone. _"SeeD always recover their men. If she's found alive and it's revealed she's a SeeD to boot our moral high-ground evaporates."

"Let us worry about the girl," the man in black said. His smile hardened. "You worry about catching your missing rats. We promised you the world Caraway. We intend to keep our promises."

* * *

Rinoa looked out across the ocean and sighed. She knew she looked more than a little weird, staring out into nothing with a goofy grin plastered across her face, but she didn't care. She had been floating on a cloud since Xu had called in.

_Galbadian media is saying that two SeeDs assaulted a group of honest farmers halfway between Deling and the Galbadian-Dollet border. I swear to Hyne Ms Heartilly when they get back please train some social graces into your errant knight._

Only two days away from Dollet. Rinoa knew she would never sleep tonight and had come out to clear her head and get away from the others. She loved the Garden, loved the people in it, loved its purpose and mission, but for all that it was still one building, and sometimes she longed for her adopted home of Timber.

_And is he worried about you as much, Rin?_

_Of course he is. _Even so far apart she could feel the connection that bound them as Sorceress and Knight, a warm feeling that pulsed in her chest. In that moment she promised herself she would do something about it when he returned. They had been living together for five years now and still there was so much she didn't know about her love. Long enough to know what they had wasn't merely a teenage phase, or lust, or dumb luck. She fingered the ring on the chain around her neck, the duplicate she had had made all those years ago, and smiled to herself.

There was a better place it could go.

SCENE BREAK

Shiva looked out across the crystal ocean and sighed. "He'll be fine. He's resting with Kinneas and will return when he amasses the energy to do so."

The waters stirred as the huge coils of the Guardian quivered in relief. "A relief," Leviathan said. "However I am concerned less about our impulsive brother and more with his unlikely attacker."

Shiva shook her head. "A mystery."

"Come now sister, you know more than you say." Crystalline water cascaded down from the great serpent as his head rose into the air above her. "A mere man could not possibly hope to match us in magic, let alone physical combat. And yet now our comrade lays dormant in the mind of a human, unable to return? There is more going on here and I think you know it."

Shiva sighed. Leviathan had always been one of the shrewdest Guardians; however he was prone to stick his head out more than was healthy for one of his age. "We all have our own secrets to keep." _And if you know what's good for you you'll leave it at that._

He was. "As you say."

Shiva turned and walked back along the icy path on the surface of the ocean as Leviathan descended back beneath the waves. The ice melted into the surface of the ocean as she returned to the beach, and the one waiting there for her_._

Siren looked worried. "Is Ifrit going to be okay?"

Shiva nodded."He'll be fine. Almost certainly furious, but still fine."

Siren laughed and Shiva felt a little better. Siren's feelings were infectious. For all her poise in the human world, she was still young by the standards of her own race. "I should tell Carbuncle, he's so worried, he's practically driving Rinoa to madness."

_And there's another who spends all his time down below._ "Tell him to come home more often." _What have you found down there that keeps you away from your people, sister?_

"I will! I'll tell him right now!" Siren practically danced away into the city. Shiva had always known, told by those humans who had talked to her about such subjects, that she was a striking presence with a figure to match, but Siren was truly beautiful and with a warmth Shiva would never have. She knew others had noticed but hadn't given it any thought. Love between Guardians was a thing grown out of friendship and long acquaintance, both parties given hundreds of years to _know _that they were meant to be, and by those standards Siren was barely into her twenties. What was fleeting human love compared to-

_Oh. Of course._

Shiva smiled sadly. _And who is it? Does he know?_ She shook her head. Let the young keep their secrets. _What will you do when your love is old and gone, and you left alone to mourn._

She looked out across the crystal seas again. _Let her dream._

_She has all the time in the world._

But even as she thought this another part of her, the part that would always place her obligations above her feelings, the part of her she knew would always truly control her actions, knew this was not the case.

* * *

Updates will be a little less constant from now on. Holidays are over. As usual reviews and comments are welcome.


	8. Best Laid Plans

"That's far enough."

They were met on the city's outskirts by three armed men, dressed in the rough brown uniforms of the Dollet barony. Squall approached carefully, making sure to keep his hands visible at all times.

"Welcoming committee?" Irvine said.

"Let's hope it's the good kind." After four days they had finally reached Dollet, hours spent crawling through woods and dodging border patrols and scouting parties on their trail.

The oldest of the soldiers approached the two SeeDs and saluted. "Welcome to Dollet gentlemen."

"Good to be here." Irvine replied. Squall resisted the impulse to roll his eyes.

"Sorry for the lack of welcoming committee but apparently there's some right bastards coming through here soon and we'd rather conclude this mess before they arrive." Squall wasn't surprised by the man's attitude towards their pursuers. No love was lost between Galbadia and Dollet, and clearly the invasion still stung seven years later. "If you'd follow us? We have temporary lodgings set aside until your comrades can arrive, and if you have a moment Baron Nuo would like a word." despite the polite wording, Squall wasn't fooled however.

Squall and Irvine let themselves be led quietly into the city. Squall hoped to Hyne that Garden would get here soon and they could start to put this whole mess behind them.

* * *

SeeD cadet Li Nuo turned to Rinoa. "We have them. My fa- the baron's men met them at the city border. They're in Dollet now."

Rinoa could have hugged the young SeeD cadet. She looked out into the ocean and laughed. _He's okay!_

She had demanded to be on the landing craft Garden had dispatched to bring it's wayward sons home, and Quistis hadn't managed to find an excuse to keep her off it. _Of course, she didn't look very hard_. Now she could barely make out the skyline of the giant Dollet comms tower on the horizon, and every second brought her and Squall closer together.

"And you're sure your father will have no trouble?"

Quistis and Li were talking in the centre of the boat. The young SeeD shook her head. "Dollet's still grateful for what Garden did for us in the Sorceress War." Li practically spat the next words: "He wouldn't let a Galbadian dog inside the city if it was bleeding into the street."

Rinoa and Quistis shared a private look. _She really hates them doesn't she?_

"Li, I'm so sorry about Cadet J- Almas."

Li shook her head sadly. Rinoa thought this was what a younger Quistis must have been like. The girl oozed poise and a quiet yet unflappable confidence. Vaguely she recalled the circumstances the girl had come to the Garden with: _Scion of a rich family. Father practically owns Dollet. Sounds like someone you know Rin? Did she run away from her life like you did?_

"It still doesn't seem real. We were talking days ago, and now-" Her hands tightened on the leather seats. "They'll come won't they? Why are they doing this? What do they _want?_"

Quistis shook her head. "I don't know."

"Power."

Quistis and Li looked around in surprise as Rinoa spoke.

"More power. That's all men like Caraway ever want." _Your own father Rin__, __don't forget can't ever forget._

Li looked on nervous. She had always been the studious one of the trio and in all the interviews and profiles on Rinoa Heartilly she had ever read Li had never once seen her parents or family mentioned, and none had touched on the disdain and anger towards her father Li could sense now. _We're the same, yet somehow also totally opposite._ Wen Nuo was a patriot, but love for his daughter had always shined through that obligation like a sun through clouds. Fury Caraway had allowed his country to eclipse all else.

Rinoa went on, oblivious to the stares of the others. "Men like him would watch the world burn if it meant they'd get what they want. In the end it all comes to the same thing." She blinked and looked around at the other two women in the boat, as if just becoming aware of what she'd said. _Oh Hyne, and Li's father is a duke._ "Er…I didn't mean all…ummm."

"It's okay Ms Heartilly I understand." Li gave a slight smile. "I know my father. He'd never let anything come between him and his people." The smile widened. "Right now Instructor Squall and Mr Kinneas are probably getting the welcome of their lives."

* * *

It was going to be the hardest conversation Squall had ever had. Harder than the introduction speech at Garden, harder than his speech during the Sorceress War at his hasty promotion to Commander. Then he had merely been reading from a script on autopilot, or making it up as he went along.

Now he had to tell a powerful man why his daughter's best friend was dead.

Squall's escort had left in a hurry after leading him into the grand library of the Nuo residence. He was impressed despite himself. Garden's libraries were functional; despite Nicole the librarian's efforts to expand their catalogue it was mostly comprised of training manuals, endless books on weapon and magical specifications and the occasional back-issue of Timber Maniacs. Squall glanced at a few of the spines stacked on the oaken shelves and knew any one of them could probably have paid for the salary of any ten SeeDs for a year. In the centre of the library was a grand desk that Xu would probably have killed for. However Squall's attention was drawn by the man sitting behind it.

Duke Wen Nuo of Dollet looked to be the same age as Cid Kramer, but the resemblance ended there. Where Cid could have been mistaken for a genial history teacher, Wen proclaimed power and prestige with every gesture. Here was a man totally secure in his position in life; the top. It surprised Squall then when he stood and walked up to Squall and shook his hand.

"Commander Leonhart, it is a great honor."

_Remember what Xu taught you._ _Please Hyne don't let me screw this one up_. "Likewise, your grace." _Damnit!_

"My daughter told me of the circumstances behind your visit to our nation. It's my sorrow you can't stay for longer, Dollet does not forget her friends." He gestured towards a chair in front of the huge desk. "Please, sit."

"That was a long time ago your grace." Squall took a seat.

The Duke shook his head. "And yet here we are again, with invaders at our doorstep and SeeDs on the way." The man's expression deepened into a frown. "And my daughter with them it seems."

_Here it comes._ The Duke struck Squall as a man who spoke what was on his mind. He was right.

"Commander Leonhart, tell me of the fate of my child's dear friend."

_This is it Squall. No dodging away from it now._ "It's my fau-"

"_NO!"_

Squall jumped in shock as the man's fist crashed down onto the table in front of him. The outburst lasted only a second, and the Duke regained his composure so fast nobody would have been able to tell it had happened at all.

"I have led men into war Commander. I've watched good soldiers bleed to death defending their homes." The man shook his head. "Galbadian animals murdered Almas Jordin. They did it for power and for their own selfish reasons."

Squall felt a surge of anger in his chest. "I could have done something-"

There was a wave of a dismissive velvet-gloved hand. "Bah. You are a great man Mr Leonhart. I have my own sources about the Sorceress War and I know what you accomplished where others could only stand and gawk." Wen leaned forward over the desk. "You will learn from this and become stronger. Your students are not merely students; they are _yours_, your children. It is always a tragedy when a parent outlives their child. But you did not kill that girl."

It was as if a great weight had lifted from Squall's chest. He looked up again into the cold eyes of the duke and this time met his gaze without flinching away. _What could this man have achieved if he had been born in Galbadia? _He promised himself when he got back to B-Garden he would take a much closer look at Li Nuo's dossier. Another thought snuck in behind the first: _This is the kind of leader I want to be. Not just some cipher-figurehead._

The Duke looked past Squall as the door into the library slid open with a whisper. Squall saw hand gestures reflected in the man's eyes he vaguely recognised as military code. The man turned back to him. "The wolves are at the door Commander. It seems they are unwilling to let their prey off the hook." He stood. "I don't think they will be satisfied with mere retrieval of a fugitive however. It appears Dollet and Galbadia will clash once more. Will SeeD consider a contract from the nation of Dollet?"

Squall knew that SeeD was meant to be a non-partisan military force, a single organisation in a world divided up by two giant militarised nations. Knew that the delicate balance of power and neutrality that the Gardens relied upon for their existence could be shattered if SeeD threw its hat into the ring. Knew this would be the moment when Garden and SeeD could turn from an impersonal mercenary force into a player on the world stage, to sink or swim in those choppy waters.

Knowing all this he did not hesitate for than a second:

He reached a hand across the table to grasp the duke's.

"It would be our pleasure."

* * *

_Hey, why are you crying?_

_I'm not crying! I just got some sand in my eyes is all. It's a beach isn't it?_

_Looks like you're crying._

_You better shut up unless you want to get knocked down!_

_Hah! I have a bodyguard. He's only a year older than me but he's _really _strong._ _You better just tell me why you're crying. Maybe I can help!_

…_I'm lost and I can't find my way home._

_Where's your home?_

_It's a looooong way away._

_Like, across the ocean?_

_Across _two_ oceans and a _super-long_ railway._

_Wow! Come on, we'll find it together. Hey Leo, get over here! We're going on an adventure! Hey what's your name? _I'm_ Li. Li Nuo._

_I'm-_

Consciousness returned to Almas like a wave that crashed over her body. She blinked rapidly at the strong lights above her and tried to remember the last thing she-

"Good morning Almas."

Alertness flowed through her instantly at the sound of the man's voice next to her skull. She tried to swing her legs out of the bed and stand but lost her balance halfway through the motion and toppled.

She sat dazed on the ground besides the bench she had fallen from. Her vision swam and formed into a view of four metal walls, and an open door looking out into wilderness.

"Did you sleep well?"

The man's voice again, it echoes inside her and brings up memories she didn't even realise she had. Nails on a chalkboard, the arrogant tone and speech of someone she thinks she might have known once before memory, and above all a void. A black void that threatened to reach out and consume her very being.

_No!_

She stands as fast as her wavering balance will allow and starts towards the door. She feels bandages catch on something and they pull away. The part of her mind that held her ingrained SeeD training, notes clinically that the flesh beneath is only faintly scarred; someone has expended great effort and magics to make her well again.

"We have so much to talk about Almas."

The voice is like poisoned honey in her ears. She knows if she stops, turns and confronts the person -_thing-_ the voice belongs to she will be lost to that black void waiting for her. Her toes hit something hard below her and she thinks _railway_. She squints against the light and thinks that she recognises them from a long time ago. She remembers a beach and a stern girl and a laughing boy that helped her home. She starts to walk, aware always of the steel room behind her.

"It's a long walk home Almas but I think you're up for it."

-Two hands clasp her by the shoulders. She shivers at the touch and nausea threatens to overtake her. _They feel like claws, hooked claws to drag me down into the dark._

"I'm giving you a message to take home Almas. Give it to our friends there."

And the man she can't see but who she knows _knows_ is dressed in black with dark holes where his eyes should be whispers his message. It comes in down below her conscious mind and takes root deep in her spinal column.

"It's a long walk Almas. Take care."

_Almas Almas Almas stop saying my _name _like it belongs to _you.

Instantly the horrible presence at her back lessens. She hears a grinding noise and dares to glance back to see the APC turn and trundle away slowly.

She looks ahead. She recognises the ground before her, has travelled it many times. Not knowing what else to do, she begins to walk.

* * *

Narrowed eyes and a curled lip. "You spent too long tested by humans in that damnable hole in the ground. Your hobby risks us both."

A patience smile. "The girls knows, on some level. She'll tell them. She'll tell them and her past will unravel in front of her like a twisted thread."

Disbelief. "And when they realise who we are and use the waif against us?"

A chuckle. "You think they would? They will know her for what she is and they will hate her for it."

A slow shake of the head. "Your mind is rotten. The sea-town contains our targets, our first true strike. I can feel her presence there like a cold cancer."

Raised eyebrow. "Very poetic. Your appetite for destruction isn't slaked yet?"

A snarl. "Never. Not while the enemy draws breath. Not while that frigid creature walks this or any other plane of existence."

A sigh and the ruffling of the pages of an open book. "You still hate her so much? Even after all these eons?"

The sound of twisting metal in a red-gloved hand. "I will bleed the ice-bitch's essence into the sands of her precious city as we burn it to the ground."

* * *

"Well this brings back memories."

Squall looked on as the SeeD landing craft docked gently against the Dollet pier.

"You should have run it up the beach for the final touch of authenticity." said Irvine.

Quistis looked over at Squall. "Just so long as we don't end up with one of us running away from a gigantic metal spider this time."

Squall was about to make a rejoinder when he looked past Quistis and saw who else had disembarked from the boat. Li Nuo stepped out of the craft and appeared to savour a deep breath of the salty Dollet air, followed by-

"_Rin!"_

Everyone else on the wharf looked in surprise as Squall practically ran down the pier and swept Rinoa into his arms. Rinoa hugged him back fiercely. "Missed me?"

"Always." Squall whispered back.

Rinoa pulled away and looked into his eyes. She hesitated for a second, and then: "I love you."

_Say it! _"I love you too." He was vaguely aware that Irvine was stifling a laugh behind him, and Quistis and Li were almost blushing and were suddenly very interested in the shoreline, but he didn't care.

A gentle cough coming from Squall's back alerted him to a new presence on the dock. He turned to see the duke looking at him and could have sworn that for a moment a fleeting look appeared across the old noble's face. Li brushed past him and embraced her father. For a second Squall felt Rin's grip on him tighten and he was reminded of her relationship with her own father in comparison. _And would you have noticed that yourself even a year ago you stupid bastard? _

"Ahem." Squall watched as Quistis bowed to the duke. "Sorry for the rush your grace but our time's growing short. Galbadian forces are on their way and we'd rather not turn your country into a battlefield for a second time. We'd like to be on our way before Galbadia can stop us leaving."

At this the duke shook his head sadly. "Ms Trepe, I'm afraid the time for that has come and gone."

* * *

"Damn, it was that close?"

Squall watched the red symbols on the map. The great library in the duke's manor had become a temporary headquarters for the Dollet militia and now Squall watched as the ocean between the town and Balamb Island was covered in Galbadian navy.

Quistis nodded. "We barely managed to get through before the blockade went up, no chance we could get out now."

The SeeDs, duke and several Dollet commanders were stood around the grand oak table. Li and Rinoa stood nervously at the door as plans were drawn up. Irvine was already scribbling on the maps as the Dollet soldiers watched, muttering about lines of approach and fire-corridors. Squall, Quistis and the Duke talked.

"Galbadia are saying we're harbouring a dangerous killer and they have every right to come in and take him back."

Squall glanced out of the large windows that looked down onto the town. Dollet was built practically on the side of a mountain, buildings and roads haphazardly winding their way up and down, a million corners and places to hide. "Any chance we could just lay low out until they leave?"

Quistis and the duke began to speak at the same time. Quistis let the older man go first. "They're only putting that excuse forward as a sop to the other countries. The second they can, they're just going to roll on in whatever we do. They want Dollet, that's clear enough."

Quistis shook her head. "And that gives them a port with a straight line across the ocean, right to Balamb."

"They want the Garden." _Are they insane?_

Irvine glanced up from the maps. "I don't think Caraway is that stupid. He knows Garden can just up-sticks and leave any time it wants." He tapped and maps. "There's something we're missing here, but for the moment-"

The SeeDs listened as the cowboy traced lines on the maps.

* * *

"I'm sorry about Almas."

Li shook her head sadly, but when she spoke her voice was harsh. "We'll avenge her."

_You're your father's daughter. _Squall cast around desperately for something to say. "You knew her a long time?"

"We met when we were children; she was visiting on a holiday and missed her train home. We played until her father came back to pick her up." Tears began to form in the cadet's eyes and her voice wavered as she went on, childhood memories painfully unearthed. "She threw sand in my eyes and I ate her lunch to get back at her." The girl's fists clenched until they were white and bloodless. "I miss her already."

Squall hesitated, and then put a hand on Li's shoulder. "We'll get the people who did this Ms Nuo. I promise. Now go and get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow. _All_ of us."

And when Li's eyes looked up into Squall's he saw a little bit of awe in them . He nodded at her and turned away as Rinoa passed him. The pair locked hands and began to leave.

"Squall!"

Squall and Rinoa paused at the entrance to the library and looked back as Quistis caught up with them. "A present for you." Their eyes met for a second, and it was done.

_Well met old friend._

He nodded fractionally. _Shiva._

"Now I'm _really_ glad you didn't travel to Deling with a Guardian. It was getting pretty crowded in here."

None of them could explain how junctioning worked. Squall had asked Shiva once and she had just shook her head and said _it's beyond you._ Guardians occupied a space in the human mind, and expanded energy to travel between minds, but how they did it they would never explain.

"Now you too" Quistis said as she changed her gaze to Rinoa.

_RiN!_

Rinoa laughed at Carbuncle's enthusiasm and Squall sighed in resignation._ I thought we'd get at least a _little_ time to ourselves. _A second too late he realised he had thought it a little too much, but Shiva kept quiet.

"I think he missed you." Quistis shook her head and smiled. "He practically begged me to let him come. He was driving Shiva nuts in there. Me too, actually." Suddenly Quistis blushed. "Siren says…well, she says hello as well."

"At least now we have some real firepower." Rinoa said hopefully.

Quistis shrugged. "I don't know what's going on here. None of this really makes any sense." She paused, and then went on. "Actually I was hoping you might have something to say Rin. He's your father after all-" She stopped as Rinoa shook her head.

"He's not my father anymore." _Not after this. Never again._

Quistis looked embarrassed and made her excuses. She walked away, heading into the town, and Squall and Rinoa were left alone in one of the mansion's balconies. Looking out across the town into the fields beyond Squall thought he could see ants moving on the horizon, flat metallic shapes that foretold the battle to come.

_We can't get out. One dead girl and hundreds more to come, all because of some stupid need for…for what? Land? You already own a continent. More people to rule? Is that all this is about Caraway?_

_Human nature. The lust for power. _Shiva said. _In the end that's all that kind of man wants. _

Squall was surprised at the venom coming from the Guardian woman. He felt Rinoa's hand gripping his and looked across at her. "It'll be alright."

Rinoa looked back at him. "Are you sure?"

Squall nodded. "I promise. We all do."

The pair looked out into the streets. Militia were putting out sandbags onto the street and worried citizens were boarding up windows. Squall saw a flash of blonde and tan as Quistis and Irvine walked through the streets, offering support and advice, Li following closely behind.

Rinoa turned so she was looking at him full-on. "I'll hold you to that promise, _Commander_ Leonhart."

The two embraced and kissed on the balcony as night began to fall. Tomorrow there would be fighting, but for the moment there was nothing but each other, and that was all they needed.

* * *

My thanks to everyone who has reviewed and commented so far, you help keep me going. That and all the hard drugs and liquor.


	9. The Second Siege of Dollet

They came at dawn.

From his position Squall could hear the dull thud of artillery letting loose, and the barked replies of the first line of Dollet's defence.

_This is it. _

Quistis and Irvine had worked long into the night, the cowboy's knowledge of urban warfare augmenting the SeeD instructor's stellar grasp of the big picture. _Put up the greatest fight in the factory district before the invading forces could penetrate into the civilian areas? No,_ _place fewer soldiers at the edge of the city, draw Galbadia into the labyrinthine city interior, and make them fight an uphill battle for every inch of ground. Blockade these streets, crash streetcars into the walls if you have to, take them into our territory, split their infantry from their armour,_ and on and on. The plans were finished only hours before the first shells had begun to fall.

He made sure his gunblade was cocked and ready, and risked a glance over the brick wall he was hiding behind. Quistis had placed him right on the border where the factories ended and the houses began. The SeeD instructor herself was farther up the hill waiting for the narrow corridors to funnel the Galbadians into places where her unique Blue Magic could devastate them. Irvine was already in place what had to be a mile away from the first strike, but Squall could already hear the crack of the man's longrifle as he picked off Galbadian trailblazers with inhumane accuracy. Rinoa and Li were guarding the duke, something Rinoa had been furious about.

_Don't treat me like some fair-weather fighter Quistis._

_Rin, Rin, you know I'd never do that. But we need you here in case- _In case we can't stop them. In the worst-case scenario, Rinoa would live the longest. Rinoa had only relented when Squall had stepped in on Quistis' side.

Squall hunched behind his wall, and waited.

* * *

"The men of the city of the plains have the numerical and technological advantage, but the fishermen and their allies have the terrain and the magic on their side."

"Leviathan?"

Leviathan looked up. "Yes, lord?"

"I Did Not Call You Here To Spout Obvious Inanities."

Leviathan did not risk a sigh. He was an old Guardian and he liked the quiet. He liked Shiva for her mellow companionship, he liked Siren for her youthful optimism and he liked Alexander for his thoughtful insight and comparable intellect. He did not like the loud coarseness of Ifrit or the random actions of Pandemona, or the barely-suppressed fury of Cerberus.

He did not like Bahamut.

The serpent of water would have shrugged if his body allowed it. The great dragon had called him to the forum at the centre of Olesia to watch the battle unfold below. Magical mists had coalesced in the centre of the great arena and formed into a ghostly map of the mountain by the sea.

"You Were My Tactician In The Great Struggle Back In The Dawn Age. Advise Me Now As Then."

Just like the great dragon to drag up old and scabbed-over memories like that. Leviathan's coils twisted in distress at the memory. _He acts as though he's proud of it. He _is_ proud of it. Yet he hides the knowledge from the younger generation. He'll need to tell them soon though and he doesn't know how they will react. _Leviathan recalled a phrase Leonhart had told him years ago. _He clings to power like a prison guard with an unloaded pistol. The prisoners do not know how many bullets he has, but the guard does not dare provoke them for fear he may be revealed as a powerless fool. _

_How far will you go, old dragon?_

Leviathan looked up at the mystical map suspended between them. Human souls shined like dull jewels on the terrain, and some shined even brighter than others. The souls of the young SeeDs shone like diamonds among the chaff of their fellow humans.

Some, the ones Leviathan knew he and all who shared his knowledge feared the most, did not shine at all.

* * *

The Galbadian Army was a military organisation with military discipline. Its soldiers had training for every eventuality, and stuck to it rigidly. It was proving to be their downfall.

Squall leapt out from cover and was swinging the gunblade before the soldier had even noticed he was there, so fast the man didn't even have time to raise his weapon. As the first man fell, head severed cleanly from his body, Squall was already moving past him to the teammates he knew would be backing him up. Within seconds the entire squad was down, and the SeeD had been about to slip back into the chaos of the battlefield when he saw it.

_What the hell?_

A woman stood on top of the battlefield. She was scanning the ground ahead casually, as if artillery and gunfire wasn't echoing around her. A red scarf billowed in the breeze around her. Squall blinked as if the woman would vanish, just some battlefield hallucination caused by adrenaline and some oddly-shaped broken rubble from the constant shelling, but the woman steadfastly remained. _Must be an officer with some kind of protection-field._

A sharp _crack_ from behind him told Squall that Irvine had also spotted the woman and had come to the same conclusion. Squall imagined he could feel the bullet ripping the air between the expert marksman and his target and watched as the armour over her chest cracked and splintered around a perfect hole drilled over her heart. _Stupid. _He turned away and was already moving for his next point-of-contact before he heard his radio crackle.

"_SQUALL!"_

Sudden goosebumps on Squall's back made him turn back, and against all his training and common sense, he froze.

The woman was still standing, and was staring right at him. Through him. Squall watched in disbelief as several more bullets thudded into the woman. She didn't seem to notice.

"Squall i_t's the woman from Galbadia!"_

Before Squall could even reply his breath caught in his throat as the temperature plummeted. He saw Galbadian soldiers slip and fall on suddenly untenable paths as cobblestone iced over and the whole area turned white with frost. He had time for the ghost of a thought _Shiva what the hell_ before he felt himself stumble on the road. He reached out and grabbed the nearest handhold to stop him fall, which was why the fist that came out of nowhere sailed over his head, rather than through it and the woman in red screeching in fury a mere hands-breadth away from him and _must have been a hundred yards between me and her how did she get here so fast_ and then all other thoughts were pushed out of his head as pure survival instinct kicked in.

"_FIGHT ME, BITCH."_

_My pleasure._

Squall dodged past another fist aimed at smashing through his skull as blue sparks coalesced into the air next to him and Shiva appeared, hands already outstretched and a look of cold calculation on her face that Squall had never seen before, and when she spoke Squall heard no human emotion In her voice, none at all.

"Squall, go."

Squall was already running for the safety of the houses and superior footing, palming his communicator as fast as he could as he ran.

* * *

Rinoa was watching the battle from the balcony she and Squall had shared, and was the first to see as an entire area of the city was suddenly drained of colour and went white, like a giant can of white paint had been opened over the area.

"Wasn't Commander Leonhart fighting near there?" Li said absently.

Rinoa's heart stopped beating. _Squall's in that area. _Before Li could shout to stop her she had turned and was already running for the door. _Carbuncle!_

Carbuncle materialised in the air beside her and vibrated in distress. "RiN! qUiStIs SaId We WeRe SuPpOseD tO sTaY hErE!"

Rinoa was about to reply when she saw the duke raise a hand. "I believe SeeD Nuo will be enough for my protection young lady."

Rinoa nodded in gratitude and was gone from the library, a small green light in hot pursuit, all thoughts of strategy forgotten as the small communicator Quistis had given her beeped out an insistent code she had taken pains to memorise beforehand.

SeeD in extreme distress.

* * *

The Galbadian commander looked on as artillery devastated the Dollet factories and began to creep uphill towards the mansion, devastating anything in its path. The uphill slope of the town gave him an excellent view as blue and brown uniforms clashed in the streets. The commander had never trained for urban warfare but was finding his first taste of it to his liking.

"Outstanding work."

He looked around to see who had spoken so close to him, but saw no-one except the man that Caraway had sent to watch the invasion.

_This man is an important ally and will be my eyes on your mission. Anything he says you will take as an instruction directly from me._

He cursed under his breath. So far all the man had done was stand there reading his damnable book, as if this was some kind of holiday and he was catching up with some light reading.

As if on cue the man snapped the tome shut and looked towards the town. "Time for us to make our entrance."

The commander raised an eyebrow but resisted the urge to sneer. A man with Caraway's ear could be a valuable person to know. "What do you mean?" _And stop throwing your voice._

The man in black looked directly at him, and the Galbadian felt a shiver run through him. A flash in his vision gave him the excuse to turn away from the man and back to the siege, where it appeared that a considerable portion of the city had suddenly turned solid white.

"That."

* * *

Masonry shattered beneath their feet, soldiers who had hesitated or turned the wrong corner or just plain not run fast enough were frozen solid as the two women moved through the town trading blows and reducing the city to ruins.

"_Do you remember me yet?_" the women in red hissed in a dead language as she threw a punch that Shiva deflected into a lamppost next to her head, which bent double on impact.

Thoughts were running through Shiva's mind like lightning. Shock, pity, hatred and cold fury ran through her body and formed one thought which she couldn't ignore.

_This is it, Bahamut was right. The worst has happened._

Shiva was backpedalling through the city and feeling it solidify under her as she moved, vegetation and cobblestones bursting under her as the frost expanded them and crushed them against each other. The blows rained down on her and she was overwhelmed by the sheer energy the red woman

_that's not her name why can't I remember her name_

was putting into each strike.

_I know you your kind but why can't I remember _you_? I should have- DAMNIT!_

A gesture and the fist rushing towards her froze should have froze by all magical law had no choice _but_ to freeze but no it kept coming and Shiva felt a murderous force hit her chest and throw her backwards through a wall. She tumbled down the hill behind and found herself prone on the ground. She couldn't feel her legs.

_Is this it? All the years and work have come to this, an ignoble death in some insignificant human dwelling?_

The woman in red was stood above her, fist raised, and then Shiva felt the heat rising around her..

* * *

Irvine was snap-firing his rifle desperately, his sniping spots steadily being winnowed by the constant oppressive artillery fire. He around a corner heading for the clock-tower a few hundred yards ahead of him and almost fell down as a Galbadian squad rounded it ahead of him. Without thinking he dived and brought the rifle up as shots zipped in the air close to his hat. One Galbadian was caught in the chest and went down like a ragdoll with cut strings. Another two were hit in the leg and dropped but the last managed to avoid injury and was already running at Irvine, bayonet raised. Irvine stared the man down and dodged past at the last second, his coat caught in the blade. He spun around, shedding his coat and slamming the barrel of his weapon into the man's helmet. It connected with a satisfying _thunk_ and he went down. Irvine heard footsteps coming closer and ran on.

Without warning heat blazed across from him and the cobblestones under his feet became sticky as they began to melt.

_What the-_

He didn't get a chance to finish the thought as ifrit materialised like a fireball out of the ther, and barreled away into the city.

* * *

Quistis dodged the Galbadian's sword-swing and snapped out with Save the Queen. The man stumbled back and screamed as his eyes gushed blood. She scanned the streets around her looking for another target and concentrated. Power lashed out from a place deep inside her and the wall another soldier had been hiding behind disintegrated, turned into nothingness by her blue magic. She groped for cover and found it in an unlocked doorway of a nearby house, its owners long since gone or hiding scared-stiff in the basement.

She hissed in pain and felt the wound on her arm again, the long gash drawn by a lucky Galbadian who had managed to get past her whip's reach and before she could react, scored a wound down her arm.

She felt warmth at her side and glanced around to see Siren with a worried look on her face. "Are you okay?"

She nodded slightly and ignored the pain it sent shooting up her side. "It's just a scratch." She concentrated and felt magic flow from within her and down her arm, the long gash healing as it went. For the second time that day she thanked Hyne or whatever deity had given her this gift. Blue Magic would never be the match of true Sorcery but the genetic gift her never-known parents had given her had pulled her out of the fire more times than she remembered, although for some reason it didn't seem to endear her to Guardians. Except Siren, who didn't have trouble with it...or a lot of things for that matter.

She turned, hands already raised and ready to bring down lightning and curses on whatever was trying to sneak up on her, when Irvine ran into the house with a frantic look on his face. Quistis knew there was something off about the man's demeanour, but it was Siren who spoke up first.

"Where's Ifrit?

* * *

The man in black shook his head. "Impatient creatures."

The man and the Galbadian commander watched as the battle progressed. The blueshirts were making steady progress up the hillside, Dollet militia holding them up for minutes at every corner, but inevitably withering underneath smashed housing and intense firepower. More fell as the army's guns rained fire on them or one of the few spider-tanks bequeathed to the commander found their targets and spat lightning into the town.

The one blight on their otherwise solid progress, the strange and inhuman spread of a sudden cold snap around the city that killed or incapacitated his men on a whim, seemed to have passed. The Galbadian commander would have worried slightly more if he had thought a little further on that, but he hadn't.

The man in black on the other hand had eyes for nothing but the small patch of space where his companion was locked in combat with Shiva. He had watched as the ice faded from the buildings and knew that the woman in red had still not defeated her opponent; the ice-Guardian's presence grated on his senses like nails on a chalkboard. He didn't know why Shiva had given up her single greatest advantage, unless-

_Ah._

He dropped his book on the ground and stood. The Galbadian commander looked around to see what the strange man was doing, but where the man in blacdk had stood there was nothing but air and a circle of dead and blackened soil.

* * *

The woman in red jumped back as a massive fiery paw swiped through the air centimetres past her face. She struck back at the massive Guardian and her hand bounced off an invisible barrier in the air. Glancing to one side she saw the green spark flit through the air, too far to strike at safely while Ifrit was so close. _You will be next after the fire devil, little rat._

Carbuncle was hovering over the prone form of his friend and begged. "ShIvA pLeAsE gEt Up!" Carbuncle was a young Guardian, younger even than Shiva. He didn't know what to do. His tiny body couldn't lift Shiva to drag her away, and if he focussed his power on levitating his sister, his brother would be left unprotected.

Ifrit and the woman were brawling. There was no strategy or finesse in this battle. The woman let out a scream of pure primal fury and a punch that would have shattered steel but only left green cracks spreading across the air in front of Ifrit as Carbuncle's barrier held. Ifrit roared in return and swung wide, missing the woman but bringing down a nearby house. His next blow was easily ducked under and Ifrit was dragged backwards and through a wall as the woman grabbed hold of his fur and slammed her spare fist repeatedly into the green barrier that was all that stood between him and death.

Digging into the ground with his claws he found purchase and began to push back. His head came down to snarl at the woman and the two creatures locked eyes. Ifrit's eyes were alight with the joy of battle and certain victory. The woman was strong but since his partnership with the SeeDs began all those years ago he had met stronger. _Only human. _He pivoted on his feet and the woman found herself swung through the air, her own force used to propel her through a wall and to the waiting trap below. The woman almost looked surprised as she twisted through the air for a landing, but instead of smooth ground or broken masonry, she saw only sharp steel. The fire Guardian had thrown her into a factory garbage pile.

Ifrit heard the dull snaps as the woman fell into the shattered metal beams below and roared in triumph. The green barrier around him shimmered and vanished and he spat fire into the sky. He had met the enemy and been victorious and what greater pleasure could there be than that?

Which was why he was not a little surprised when a hand reached over the parapet and hauled up a broken and shattered body behind it.

* * *

"Father, we have to leave."

Li stood behind the duke on the balcony, becoming more nervous by the second. The old man watched the battle between the guardians and the unusual humans below without a word.

Li tried again. "Galbadian soldiers are coming up the hill as we speak. The docks have already been lost. We have to evacuate up to the communication tower."

Duke Wen acted as if his daughter had not spoken. "Li, did your mother ever read to you from the Book of Hyne?"

_Please just let's go I don't want you to die here._ "No. Fath-"

Wen turned and looked at his daughter. "The Good Book talks about a great war at the beginning of time between Hyne and Demeter for rulership of the heavens and whose children should live upon the earth. A war fought with angels and demons on either side-"

"_DAD! _We have to go!" Li was practically in tears but the duke made no move to leave the balcony. Li could see blue uniforms mounting the hill towards the mansion. Part of her, the young, weak, selfish part, was telling her to _go now just turn and go_ but she overruled it with an iron will.

"The demons were defeated and driven beneath the earth, where all they could do was send spirits and ghosts to haunt the sons of man. The demons were powerful and their thoughts and wishes rose through the earth and stole into the minds of humans and gave them hatred and envy." He spat. "If there is any place so cursed with these demons today, it is Galbadia."

"_Please!"_

Wen shook his head sadly. "You remind me of your mother so much. You have her strength. When Dollet is reclaimed your people will need you."

Understanding ran through Li like a buzzsaw, and she began to cry. Wen Nuo, ruler of Dollet, stepped from the balcony and embraced his only child.

"Our name is Nuo. We built this small country with our blood and sweat." He gently forced Li's face up and looked into her eyes. "We do not bow to cowards and invaders. We do not fall with wounds in our backs. I will die standing and facing my enemy." He pushed her away. "Now go, find your friends. Become the ruler I know you will. For me." Li did not move. "_GO!"_

Li ran. Tears blinded her eyes, and she did not look back. She cried for her lost and conquered country, and for her own weakness.

And for her father.

* * *

Her communicator had been broken in the fighting. She hadn't heard from any of the others in what seemed like hours. One of the walls of their hiding place had collapsed and all she could see was ashfall and the dull glow of burning buildings. Quistis shook her head. "We can't go out there."

"We have to."

"We'll die if we go out there." She could hear the shelling, and on top of that a noise, just on the edge of hearing, like nails on a chalkboard. Somehow it scared her more than the Galbadians did.

"We'll die if we stay."

"Then at least we'll die together."

"I should find the others, I should figure out if there's anything we can-"

Quistis looked up in panic. _"No!_ Don't leave me alone here."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Just hold me." Quistis felt warm arms embrace her and closed her eyes. _If we die here at least I'll have you. I don't need anything else._ "Kiss me."

"Always."

The two embraced, their lips meeting passionately. One last speck of light before the darkness closed in.

* * *

Rinoa ran through the shattered streets, dodging past patrolling Galbadian soldiers where she could and blasting with raw force those she couldn't. Smoke and ashes obscured her view and made her cough and she could hear noise like a fly buzzing close by but she ignored them, her entire being focussed on the bright point in her mind, all her power awake and homing in on that small dot of light.

_Squall, wait for me._

A blue-shirted man ran across the street in front of her and without thinking Rinoa batted her hand, tendrils of white energy reaching out and ensnaring the man and tossing him aside effortlessly. Carbuncle had gone, left without warning to help his brother against…something…and she was alone in the ruined streets.

"_RIN!"_

Rinoa turned as relief as Squall's voice called out almost next to her. Without thinking of the danger she ran the distance between them in a second and fell into his arms. She cried into his arms and repeated his name as if he would vanish in front of her if she didn't. _Squall, Squall, Squall._

Squall glanced behind him and pulled them both down into the ruins of a home, and Rinoa noticed he was bleeding. Idly she flicked a small finger of power at his forehead, and it healed instantly, only the dried blood on his face showing he had ever been wounded.

"Rin we have to go."

"What's wrong?"

"There's…I can't explain now, we have to leave."

"Is it bad?"

Squall nodded grimly. "They have the docks, no chance Garden can get through to us here."

Rinoa's face fell. _If they have the town surrounded, then…Is this it? All the years and fighting, the Sorceress War, the training and sacrifice, die like rats caught in some trap._

_Caraway I hope you die slowly._

* * *

"Melodrama unto the last, little man?"

The duke looked around as he heard the door swing open. The dust fell around and through the man in black but none of it settled on him and he remained immaculate, his face set in a cruel smile, his featureless eyes seeming to glow with reflected firelight. When he spoke Wen shivered at the voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

The duke looked down at his feet and saw the black shape of the man's shadow near him. The wood under it had already begun to buckle and warp. _So this is the enemy. _But none of the true fear Wen had thought to find in himself was there, and he let out a chuckle. "So, the stories are true then?"

"All stories are true, for a given value of 'true'." the man replied. He ran a finger along the shelves of the library and sighed. "A good collection. Pity really."

Wen spat in disgust. "All just so much animal scribbling to you I suppose?"

The man shrugged. "On the contrary, I rate your species much higher than my erstwhile companion does."

_And that is what makes your kind so dangerous._ "Is there no room for negotiations? Or co-existence? If you are who I know you to be-"

The man shook his head and sneered. "Gods don't make deals with ants."

Wen risked a smile. "You still lost though even with your 'god'-like power. Even with all the demons of the world on your side you still fell to the angels."

"A mistake we shall not be making again." The man in black took down a single book from the shelf and turned to gaze into Wen's eyes. "A mistake we shall begin to correct here and now."

Wen had time for one last thought _Hyne protect my daughter and her friends against this darkness._

And then Melanthios reached out a hand, his shadow growing by the second as if drinking up the light in the room, and then there was nothing left of Duke Wen Nuo of Dollet.

But he died standing.

* * *

Guardians were creatures of magic, chained only tenuously to the physical world. To inflict pain and injury on one requires another Guardian, or a massive source of power, all bent towards the purpose of harming a near-Godlike being.

The woman stood before Ifrit was a shell. As he watched small pieces broke off and hit the floor with a _tink_ noise, like parts of a smashed doll. Lines and cracks ran through her radiating out from holes where steel beams had pierced through her disguise.

A shape began to form behind the now-tattered woman in red. Mists and ash swarmed around each other and coalesced into a dull crimson shape; a two-headed four-armed beast that he knew well, and in that moment Ifrit knew that he was dead.

The green-tinted barrier in front of him finally shattered and Carbuncle dropped to the ground, exhausted, with no longer even the energy to keep himself airborne. Ifrit scooped him up in one massive claw as the woman advanced on them both, stuttering out an inhuman taunt.

Ifrit roared in reply as the woman mocked him. Cocking his arm back and ignoring Carbuncle's words _nO I CaN sTiLl HeLp DoN't SeNd Me AwAy PlEaSe NoOoOo_ he threw with all his remaining strength. Ifrit chuckled as he imagined the tiny Guardian sailing through the air. Away from here. _One of us, at least, must survive this day_.

He forced himself to his feet and roared. His right hand no longer usable he charged. The apparition met his charge head-on and Ifrit was locked horns. Unlike Shiva he had no trouble recognising the soul powering the unholy creature before him. He felt an unnatural calm as he was forced backwards, feet digging down into the street below but unable to hold against the silent enemy. The creature swung it's hammer and Ifrit dodged back to avoid it and then forward again, claws coming down to rake the enemy across its face, but they merely scratched the metallic surface. He tried to draw back and swing again but suddenly his body felt far too heavy, and fell.

_So, this is it. I hope you make her bleed Shiva._

The woman in red stood over him and glared down, her hellish servant behind her like a faithful guard dog. The cracks and holes in her human doll changing her voice into a hellish grinning cacophony.

"D-d-d-do Yyyooouuu have annynynyy last ww—w-w-ordddsssss?"

Ifrit stood, his last reserves of pride all that was holding him up. He was a Guardian. He would not give this ancient bitch the pleasure of killing him on his knees. "I'LL SAY HELLO TO YOUR BROTHERS IN HELL FOR YOU."

The golem swung only once with its massive hammer. Tisiphone threw back her head and laughed, her broken shell twisting it into an insane scream of triumph.

To kill a Guardian required inhuman strength and inhuman magic. But they were not immortal. It could be done.

* * *

They gathered in the communications tower. Squall looked out over the ruined city. His fate had begun here, all those years ago. He fingered the SeeD badge Cid had given him on graduation. He'd kept it with him through his time at Garden, had made sure to hide it on himself when he had ran from Deling City. Now it looked like his fate would end here as well. He looked over at the cadet who sat slumped next to him and asked gently:

"Quistis and Irvine?"

Li shook her head and glanced over at the two unconscious SeeDs, leaned against each other to stay propped up. Quistis had lost Save the Queen between the town and the tower and Irvine's gun was bent nearly back over on itself. Neither of them were moving. "They got up here before I arrived. I don't think- I don't know if…" she burst into tears.

Shiva was staring off into space. Her immaculate blue skin was bruised and faded dull purple in places. She had arrived limping minutes after Squall and Rinoa had reached the top of the tower, and had only said _Ifrit is dead_ and not a word since, lacking even the energy to return to the relative safety and comfort of Squall's psyche. Siren was nowhere in sight. Strangely, she did not think of herself. She was old, and had had a long life. Her pity fell on her young sister. _Siren, you poor girl, did you even get a chance to tell your love how you felt?_ She felt anger at herself for her age and cynicism. If she could go back in time she would have grabbed the younger Guardian and told her, ordered her to go to the man and tell him how she felt. Would have told her not to come to this place too. Would have told everyone. _So stupid._

_Ifrit, I hope you died well old friend. I hope you hurt that _creature _before you went. _Memories Shiva had kept buried for aeons roiled to the surface of her mind. _We were so bind. Our sins reach out across time and kill those close to us._

Metal twisted and screeched below them. Massive reinforced legs slammed into and pierced the tower, driving up the massive bulk of the spider-tank. Squall didn't have to see it to know it was there.

"So, that's it."

Squall hugged Rinoa tightly to his side. His mind ran ahead as his body realised it could do nothing except sit and wait. _I didn't want this for us. I wanted to grow old with you, wanted children we could watch grow up and our friends all there with us._

Shiva glanced over at the others. "Everyone; it was a pleasure to fight with you." the Guardian said softly.

The spider-tank crested the tower and reared above them, cannons primed and aimed squarely at the four broken and defeated people. Squall felt Rinoa grip him tightly, and saw Shiva just stare in resignation at the metal war-machine. _I'm sorry._

And the sky spat fire.

* * *

"This is it then. War. The war to end all wars."

Laguna turned to Kiros and Ward. The giant ex-soldier looked on stoically. The black man just looked resigned. The years had taken their toll on all three of them.

"Galbadia won't ignore this. The Ragnarok will be like a red flag to a bull, and they think they have what it takes to go all the way this time."

Laguna shrugged. "Did we ever really have a choice?"

Ward laughed silently as Kiros answered: "Of course not."

* * *

The tank fell back, massive holes appearing in its side and bleeding oil and broken machinery into the sky. It teetered for a moment on the edge of the comms tower, and then gravity pulled it down. Smashing antennae and transmitters as it went, the machine crashed into the ground and exploded in a roiling ball of flame and oil.

The Ragnarok banked and turned, engines firing as it strafed sideways and swung back towards the tower, cannons and laser firing down the hillside into the approaching Galbadian armour. Squall was deafened as tanks and artillery exploded where the beams touched them, taking their crews and ammunition with them in a cascade of destruction and death. Then the Ragnarok glided down to be level with the top of the tower, and Squall saw something even more unbelievable as a lone figure jumped twenty metres off the back of the massive spaceship and landed next to him without a scratch.

"Need some help?" Zell Dincht asked. Squall didn't know whether to kill or kiss the man. Not that he had the strength for either. "Would have been here earlier but Selphie got distracted by the trains passing by." Okay, it was definitely kill.

Ropes fell from the Ragnarok and other SeeDs rappelled down, including Instructor Kayes and-

"L…Leo?" Li whispered in disbelief.

Leonard Nerva grabbed Li under an arm and lifted her as quickly as he dared. "Sorry it took so long Li." He attached his harness to the lines and began to rise back into the waiting embrace of the ship. "Let's talk later okay."

Within seconds only Shiva was left on top of the communication tower. She glanced up at Zell Dincht with a newfound respect as the man braced himself and, grimacing against the near-frostbite she couldn't help but inflict, lifted her to her feet and winched them both up into the Ragnarok's hold.

As the bay doors closed and the massive engines powered up Squall glanced back at the comms tower and Dollet. Two people stared back.

The man dressed in black looked almost normal, could have been mistaken for any educated man on the street, except for his shadow. It writhed and twisted underneath him like a living thing and sent out tendrils in all directions, metal rusting the ground where it fell.

The woman in tattered red clothing would never have been mistaken for human, not in her state. She looked like a shattered doll, sharp gaps and missing chunks of skin revealing a black nothing underneath, spider-web cracks covering her face and body. A giant blood-red creature stood behind her, its two heads gazing silently up at him, massive ornate hammer clutched by its side.

The pain in his side faded as his fury rose. Thoughts of bloody revenge ran through his head. Squall stood up and brushed Zell's surprised hand away. He stood on the edge of the cargo-bay and screamed into the air:

"_I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME MONSTER! IF IT TAKES ALL MY LIFE! I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!"_

The man just nodded, as if Squall had done nothing more than tell him the weather. The woman grinned an insane grin and gestured towards herself, as if Squall would turn the Ragnarok around and go back to meet her and her Guardian companion. _And you can bet Shiva will have some questions to answer about that later. _

The door closed and the massive crimson ship lifted off, engines screaming, into the sky, away from the ruined town. Squall sat back down and felt himself drift off into blessed unconsciousness.

* * *

And over a hundred miles away, unaware of the history-shifting events in the town, a lone girl walked the train-tracks of the Trans-Continental Railway. She knew where she was going. She had time to gather her thoughts and find her way home. To where she belonged.

Almas Jordin had all the time in the world.

* * *

Galbadian soldiers swarmed into the comms tower, some holding weapons but even more with welders and engineering equipment. Squads in the town itself picked through the rubble for survivors and the wounded while others dealt with remaining brown-shirted militia. Commanders nodded their heads in satisfaction and prepared to phone Caraway with news of their victory.

The siege of Dollet was over.


	10. Nightfall II

"Been a while since we were all together like this."

Zell leaned back on his chair and grinned. "Just like old times."

"God I hope not," Irvine said. "All that globetrotting played hell on my wardrobe."

Rinoa had convinced Squall to abuse his position as Commander and the Garden cafeteria had been sequestered for an unusual reunion. Even after everything that had happened that day he couldn't deny it felt good to see everyone together again for the first time in years. _Selphie's always in Trabia with the rebuilding teams and Zell checks into Gardens for missions and not much else. Irvine's was busy with his instructor job and Quistis has been shuttling back and forth on diplomacy missions. We've drifted apart,_ he thought.

"It's just so great to see everyone again," Selphie gushed.

Rinoa grinned. "It's great to see you to Selphie. But what were you doing over Dollet? Not that we're not all grateful." she added quicky. All of the SeeDs present in Dollet were nursing injuries. Rinoa had a nasty long bruise on her arm where she'd tripped and scraped against a piece of metal and Squall still had a slight limp. Irvine had a nasty gash across his forehead where a bullet from a Galbadian rifle had come _this _close to taking his head off, but had refused treatment. _Probably to impress Selphie_, Squall had told Rinoa later.

Zell leaned forward just before Selphie was about to answer. "I was in Esthar with Laguna when we saw over the news. I wasn't going to just leave you guys hanging there, so I convinced him to give us the Ragnarok-"

"Zell." Squall said sternly.

"Err…I asked him if we could loan the Ragnarok for a few hours, and I swung by T-Garden to pick up Selphie and we hauled ass for Dollet." He looked smug. "Cavalry to the rescue, right on time."

_Almost right on time._ But Squall wasn't going to bring that up here. He'd already buttonholed Shiva, he and Quistis planned to have a long talk with the Guardian later that night.

As if reading his mind Selphie piped up: "Where's Shiva and the gang anyway?"

Squall shrugged. "Not sure. They wandered off after we all got back." _To mourn, maybe. Maybe Guardians die all the time. Or maybe they're as confused as I am._

Irvine sensed the mood turning dour and spoke up. "Well for now we're safe, we have a roof over our heads, and above all…"

"Yes?"

"Above all we're in this mess together." He grinned and lifted his glass. "And when you get down to it, that's the most important thing."

Quistis smiled. Her glass met his with a _clink_ as the others lifted theirs. "And what a mess it is."

"The biggest we've ever seen!" Selphie chirped. _Clink._

Zell laughed. "Until the bitter end." _Clink._

Rinoa glanced over at Squall, and her hand found his under the table as they lifted their glasses and joined them with the others.

"Together."

* * *

"_Hold him down!"_

"_I'm trying!"_

_He swings his arms around, and the small blue woman trying to chain him to the ground is picked up and slammed into the wall in a cloud of cascading dust. Who are these people? What do they want? Where is this place?_

"_Help me out here!" The blue woman is shouting. Ifrit turns as he feels others at his back and sees a black man with a sword standing calmly. In his rage he charges._

_Suddenly he is flat on his back and looking up. Other faces look down on him and he feels uncertain. He opens his mouth to roar but instead he hears himself say: "Who am I?"_

_The woman in blue glances at her companions. They nod at her and she looks down at him._

"_You are Ifrit."_

* * *

"_It's _the_ nightmare."_

Even as night disguises the Garden as it sails silently across the ocean, the sun is rising in Esthar. Laguna raps his fingers on his desk. "Are you _sure_ there's nothing you can do from your end?"

He can almost hear the exasperated sigh in Xu's voice as she replies. _"I'm practically under house- arrest as it is Mr President. I don't even know how many of my students are loyal, if push came to shove."_

The two have been talking for hours now. Laguna rubs his eyes and glances up at Kiros, who stares back at him. "Don't even say it."

Kiros said it anyway. "I told you so."

"Well what the hell were we supposed to do, just let them die up there?" Laguna says angrily.

The black man holds his hands in front of him protectively. "Whoa there boss. Just listen to the lady."

"I _am_ listening."

Xu's voice comes from the communicator. _"Then there's nothing you can do. Using the Ragnarok was the only option but now Galbadia think that Esthar have joined the Garden and Dollet in declaring open season."_

Laguna slammed his hand into the desk. Even after all these years as president of the most advanced country on the planet, sometimes he just can't help but hope that there's a reasonable way to deal with things like this. "Can't we convince them otherwise?"

"_They don't_ want_ to be convinced sir. They just want war."_

"Are they crazy? When we can just walk the Ragnarok up to Deling City and blast them to smithereens?"

"And kill how many civilians?" Kiros asks sharply.

Laguna waves this off. "I was just making a point. They got their clocks cleaned once, why are they so eager to go a second round? Do they really think they stand a chance?" He can see Ward waving a data-slate in his direction.

"_That's just the thing sir, this time they think they may, and we think we might know why."_

Laguna isn't listening anymore though. He's reading the slate Ward has handed to him. He watches, his expression changing from distaste, to anger, to disbelief. Finally he finishes and when he speaks again his voice has changed completely. "Xu, I'm going to have to finish this discussion later." He looks over at Kiros, who puts on a faint smile whenever Laguna uses his Presidential Voice.

"Get me Odine."

* * *

_He doesn't like the city. It feels small and confining. He's found an area nearby though that doesn't seem to move around too much and is hot enough for him. Only a few people ever really bother to come visit him. The city is still small at this point in history, more of a town really, and it is yet to be filled with the thousands who will one day come to live in her._

"_There are other worlds than this."_

_Ifrit looks down at Shiva. The small blue woman insists on coming to speak with him. He knows she is stronger than he is though so he doesn't mind so much. "WHAT."_

"_Out there beyond the walls you can feel but can't see."_

_Ifrit pauses before replying. "I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. I KNOW THEY'RE CLOSE, WHATEVER THEY ARE, BUT NO MATTER HOW FAR I SEARCH I CAN'T FIND THE ENTRANCE." He's felt the walls on his own, even before Shiva mentioned them. He knows there's something else out there beyond the city and his mountainside and the infinite plateau that stretches off into the distance. He wants to know what's on the other side of those walls._

"_I can show you how to go there."_

_Ifrit wonders on that. There's nothing to do here except train to become stronger. It gets boring sometimes. Maybe a change of scenery will do him some good. "SHOW ME."_

"_There are rules."_

_Ifrit pauses. He's still young and has a rebellious streak a mile wide. But he won't allow a chance to get out of this boring place to pass him by. "I WILL OBEY." And he thinks: _For now. Until I am stronger than you.

_Shiva looks over at him and by the look in her eyes he knows that she has read his mind somehow and is thinking: _That will never happen.

"_Then take my hand."_

* * *

The group split up and went their separate ways into the night, and the Garden shone.

The massive unknowable Cetra machinery had swung ponderously into motion and picked up the thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete and carried it away across the ocean into the night. Electricity and older, more potent forces spat and arced across the rotating rings-cum-engines below the giant seashell-shaped building and projected upwards and made it glow like a diamond. Lights scattered about on the shell winked on and off as shifts changed and cadets slept or woke, and some just stood on their balconies and looked out onto the endless black ocean beneath.

Siren loved the Garden. She loved the idea of a home not tied down to one place. She loved the idea of a home free to wander where it may; of being able to look out of a balcony and see the miles fall behind her. She loved the faint rumble just beyond hearing of ancient yet perfect machinery under harness. She loved the view from the Garden's quad area, neatly-tended grass and flowers sat on top of a concrete and steel. Fragile and warm life suspended in the air by cool and unsympathetic metal and stone. _How apt._

Footsteps behind her jerked her out of her reverie and she turned to see Irvine Kinneas approach.

"Nice night for star-gazing. Well, sea-gazing anyway. Mind some company?"

She shrugged; _what's the harm?_ He leaned on the railing next to her, and for a while the two of them stood there in silence looking out into the ocean in quiet companionship. After a while something stirred within her and she began to speak.

"I was born from the ocean."

Irvine turned to face her but didn't reply, and Siren felt the words spill out uncontrollably.

"I opened my eyes for the first time underwater. It was hard to swim and I didn't really know what was happening to me but I managed to make it to the shoreline. The first thing I remember was coughing up water on the sands of O- my home. I couldn't even move, I was so tired. All I could do was lay there. It took me that long to realise there was someone else there with me." Siren closed her eyes and leaned back. She could still see it in her mind, even now. "Mr Kinneas-"

"Call me Irvine."

Siren smiled and went on. "Things aren't real where I come from, Irvine. Places and people shift from day to day; it takes energy and will to stay who you are, to not let yourself get washed away into becoming someone else, or just vanishing into the ocean spray. But she sat there on the shore next to me and just whispered to me gently for hours until I came around. She told me I was special, that the world had chosen and gave me life to do great things, that I was part of a destiny and she was my sister and she loved me and that she would help me."

Irvine was spellbound. _I am hearing things no-one else in the world has ever heard._

"I didn't grow up like you. I already looked like this-" She ran a hand down her body. "-but I knew so little. Shiva helped me know to who I was, helped to be the person I am today. I owe her a lot." _An encouraging hand on her shoulder when she was introduced to her older siblings, a smile to cheer her up when she was unhappy. A frown when she was found doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing._ Siren shook her head. "She was…a striking presence…back then."

Irvine coughed nervously. "Is that why-" he trailed off, unwilling to complete the sentence.

"Who knows?" Siren said as she shrugged. She turns to face him and Irvine felt a tug at his heartstrings at the desperate look in her eyes. "I don't know what to do Irvine. I've never felt like this before. "

The man laughs. Siren has a hurt look in her eyes but it only makes him laugh harder. Finally he gets himself under control and wipes tears away. "I'm sorry Siren it's just…well…you're so much…"

"Older?"

He waves his arms protectively in front of himself. "No no no! I just would have thought you'd have…well…more experience in this kind of thing."

"What kind of thing?"

Irvine sighs deeply and looks back out over the ocean. He can hear splashes below and looks down to see dolphins leaping in the water, drawn to the Garden by the lights drifting serenely over the water. Irvine had never used Guardians like the other SeeDs had. They had always repelled him slightly, the thought of giving over his mind, his very person to another creature merely for power making him shiver. It dawns on him then; this being of unimaginable power in the shape of a young woman is still just that; a young woman. "You're in love."

The Guardian puts her head in her hands. "But I don't know what to do _next_."

Irvine sighed. "Look at me, Siren." She did, and her expression was almost enough to break his heart right there. "Love isn't something you can make a list of and tick off as you go. It just…happens. It's just something that goes on…happening…" he finished lamely.

She pouted. "Squall and Rinoa make it look so easy."

Irvine laughed gently. "Squall and Rinoa were meant to be. Anyone around them can see that."

Siren laughed. "Maybe today is just overwhelming me. Ifrit, the siege, now _this_, these feelings I don't know what to do with…"

Irvine watched as tears began to form in her eyes and for a moment he was tempted to wrap his arms around the woman and comfort her. He sighed and shook his head. _The things I give up for chivalry._ "Siren?"

"Yes?"

"I have an idea."

* * *

"_IT'S…INTERESTING."_

_Ifrit was sat on his mountainside. Shiva stood near him quietly._

"_THEY'RE SO FRAGILE. I COULD CRUSH THEM ALL ON MY OWN, SAD SMALL THINGS HUDDLED AROUND THEIR FIRES."_

_He watched Shiva closely as she shook her head. "They'll do great things one day friend. I know it._

_Friend. He blinked in surprise. Shiva made him feel a little nervous, and more than a little inferior. She was older and stronger than he was and to him that spelt Enemy. Maybe he had misjudged her. Maybe in misjudging her he was misjudging these small weak apelike creatures she had shown him. "AND WE HAVE TO JUST WATCH FROM A DISTANCE?"_

_She smiled. "Nobody said anything about just watching. Don't small children need the help of adults to grow up?"_

_Ifrit considered this for a moment. "I SUPPOSE THERE'S NO HARM IN IT…FRIEND."_

_Shiva smiled, and Ifrit realised he felt better about this already. Maybe being alone and apart from others of his kind wasn't really necessary at all._

* * *

Selphie, Zell, Rinoa and Quistis had been walking through the corridors talking (well, mostly listening) as Selphie told them about her work in Trabia. They heard whispered voices coming from nearby, and turned the corner to see two familiar figures skulking in an alcove ahead of them, one human, one Guardian.

"It's an interesting situation."

"It's a _unprecedented_ situation."

"I don't think we can afford to-"

Diablos was the first to notice the trio and turned, his red eyes glaring at them as they walk past. Kayes nodded in recognition and Quistis nodded back. Zell kept his mouth shut until he was sure they were safety out of earshot, and then- "Those two give me the creeps."

Quistis shrugged. "GF- I mean Guardians come and go a lot more now. Some of them just prefer being out in the open air more than others, so to speak. You should stay at Garden more, you'd get used to it."

Selphie giggled. "Can you imagine the mess we'd have if Bahamut or Leviathan wanted to get out and stretch their legs more often?"

Quistis laughed. "Well, we'd have to get a permanent ceiling-fixer, that's for- Rin, you okay?"

Rinoa was jerked out of her reverie and looked around at her friends. "What? No! I mean yes! I'm fine!"

"Kayes still bother you?" Quistis asked with expert accuracy.

Rinoa shrugged and didn't bother to lie. "He gives me the creeps is all. Both of them do."

Zell sighed. "Diablos is a creepy guy though. You weren't there when we first met him." He shivered in recollection. "He pulled us into a _lamp_."

Rinoa still looked nervous. "He just makes me feel a little nervous, that's it."

Quistis nodded. "Kayes is a little…err…zealous…as an instructor, but he does his job well."

_He likes to hurt people._ Rinoa thought. _Both of them do._

Any further discussion however was cut short when they turned at the sound of footsteps to see Irvine hurrying after them.

"Ladies? And Zell of course. Although maybe 'ladies' is still technically correct…"

"Up yours Irvine."

Irvine grinned. "Got a few minutes?"

* * *

"_I LIKE THEM."_

"_Now there's something I'd never thought to hear from you."_

_They're talking at the top of a small ziggurat Ifrit has chosen to stay in when he comes to the city._

_Ifrit shrugs. "THESE ONES FEEL SO…ALIVE. NOT LIKE THOSE WEAK CIPHERS FROM BEFORE." he says. He's watched a few of them specifically. The small blonde fighter and the gunman have promise._

_Shiva shrugs. "What are you going to do?" Ifrit knows Shiva has already been among them, a guide and teacher to those strong enough to heed her words._

"_THERE'S A VOLCANO NEAR THEM."_

"_The City always did bore you." She looks at him with a slight smile. "We'll miss you up here, at least."_

"_HAH!"_

_Ifrit departs the City. Maybe in time he'll go back, but for now he's going to try his hand at these humans. They seem up to the challenge._

_Maybe one day he will be able to call them friend._

* * *

They were gathered on the top level of the Garden. The emergency escape was open and the cool ocean breeze was wafting across the group as they stood on the balcony outside. Shiva and Siren were there representing the Guardians, and the orphanage gang made up the more human part of the gathering. Kayes and Diablos were standing near the back, separate from the group and still deep in discussion.

Selphie laughed and rubbed her arms, shouting to be heard above the roar of the ocean far below. "It's freezing Irvine, why're we up here!"

Irvine Kinneas grinned and turned around. His eyes met Shiva's. "Just a little tradition we used to have in Gal- in my hometown, thought I'd share it." His hands came out from behind him clutching a bottle and a brace of wine-glasses.

"W-w-w-w-we couldn't h-h-h-h-have drank this inside?"

Irvine shook his head as he handed out glasses and filled them up. "Not for this!"

Shiva was smiling indulgently as she held her glass. Icy patterns had begun to whirl around its crystal surface as she held it. "I don't see what-"

Irvine grinned and lifted his glass as he shouted into the night sky. "To Ifrit!"

It took a second for the others to catch on, and then ten glasses were held into the air and they all yelled as one:

"Ifrit!"

"Now what?" Siren shouted over the ocean. She looked happy. _Well Irvine, maybe you have a job as a counsellor for Guardians when this is all over._

"Now _this!_" He tossed his glass over the side. The night sparkled as more glasses tumbled into the ocean below and smashed onto the surface.

"Godspeed buddy, wherever you are now."

* * *

And dawn comes, eventually, for all.

* * *

Comments and reviews are, as always, welcome.


	11. Triune of the Lost

She knew things would be different the first day classes resumed.

Garden was a military training academy, and life goes on, even in the midst of war. After the shockwave and rumour had blasted through the floating building; _Garden has declared war against Galbadia._ _No, Galbadia invaded Dollet to get at the Garden, the GFs are running scared,_ life had begun to settle back down to some semblance of normality. Panic subsided, study-tasks were once again posted up on the garden's computer systems, and finally cadets were expected to be in their seats and ready to learn by oh-nine-hundred sharp.

Li knew on her first day back that things would not be the same for her, ever again. She could see it in the eyes of her classmates and fellow cadets; she wasn't Li Nuo, SeeD cadet anymore. She was Li Nuo, ruler-in-exile of Dollet and wanted fugitive from Galbadia.

But even more than that she had Been There and had fought alongside Them. Never mind that she had been assigned guard-duty for the entire invasion and had spent the escape-flight of the Ragnarok weeping uncontrollably in Leonard's arms. It was as if the magic dust that the Sorceress War heroes seemed to exude had fallen onto her and buried deep into her skin, giving her a little of their awe. She feared that no matter how hard she tried it would never wash off.

In the space of a week her life had been twisted into an unrecognisable shape. Her best friend had been killed so some armchair general could add a few more acres to his demesne and her father had followed days into that hungry abyss days later. She had nothing but Garden now, and Leonard.

She swore to herself she would not lose either.

* * *

_Is this really what I want to do with my life?_

Leonard Nerva had been surrounded by combat since he was a child. His father was a – _had been a_ – warrant officer for the late Duke Nuo, and Leonard himself had been taken on as a companion and later bodyguard for the duke's daughter at a young age. He was proficient in most pistols and rifles, could take down a man twice his weight in a fight, and had been admitted to the prestigious SeeD academy. Almas' death was a tragedy but he had lost friends before and vengeance would be meted out in full one day. Unlike Li, whose burdens were almost visibly crushing her down into a steel core of anger and grief, he knew he was handling it well.

_So why then do I feel like something just chewed me up and spat me out?_

"Didn't quite catch that pal. Say what?"

Startled, he looked around at his classmate as he realised he had said that out loud. "Nothing, just a little frustrated."

The cadet laughed. "Knew there was something wrong with you when you started hitting outside the lines."

They were in the Garden shooting range between classes. Leonard prized his skill and worked hard to keep it sharp. He _tisk_ed under his breath and made macho conversation with the other shooters nearby while his mind worked on a different task entirely.

_Who do I talk to about this?_

A shooter leaned around his enclosure and caught Leonard's eye. "Hey Nerva, I hear you rode the dragon. What was it like?"

"Eh?"

"You know, that huge red ship? It's full of all this crazy Esthar tech. It's supposed to be able to go into _space._ Can you imagine that?"

He grinned. "Eh, I didn't really have much time to look around the thing you know. Too busy saving the day." That one got some appreciative laughter.

"Was it crazy?"

The urge came over Leonard like an order beamed into his head by Hyne herself. He wanted to punch this ignorant kid in the face as hard as he could. "It was pretty crazy, yeah," was all he managed. He holstered his rifle and made his excuses. He had to get out of there. The thought ran through his head again: _Who do I talk to about this_?

Just as suddenly, the answer came.

* * *

Almas was a survivor. From growing up the daughter of a single father in Fisherman's Horizon to enduring the verbal whips and slingshots from the bigger boys in her neighbourhood she had developed a thick skin at an early age. Literally, from the stones and childhood beatings she had endured. Her father's verbal whips hadn't been physical, but no less painful than all that.

The trans-continental railroad had changed since the last time she had come down it. From the barren and decrepit bridge it had been during the Sorceress War, waystations and drinking-holes had sprung up along the route as Galbadian and Horizoners had rebuilt, hoping against hope that Esthar would finally come out of her shell and shower them with trade and wealth and technology beyond imagination.

But nothing had happened. Esthar had retreated back into her exile and the TCR had been abandoned once again. Now only a few die-hard salvagers and bottom-feeding runaways and escapees patronised the bars spread along the railroad like limpets on a boat. It was one of these bars that Almas had just entered.

The barman viewed her with suspicion as she sat down without ordering. Even in her torpor she could feel his distrust from across the room. _Well screw you too old man. It's not me who's stuck out here on the ass-end of nowhere in a cockroach-filled bar serving criminals and scum._ As little as a year ago she might have said it out loud and damn the consequences, but for now the impressions o strangers was not her main concern.

She could feel under her bandaged arm like an itch she couldn't scratch. She had taken the wrapping off, once, when she had considered going back to Garden. Let Li and Leonard _god I miss them so much_ know she was okay. But then she had seen what was underneath and the thoughts had been swept from her mind and all that was left was a mantra that circled in her head.

_What is this what have you done to me?_

And then she heard the voice of the newsman coming from the small radio, and her heart sunk further.

"…_Liberation of the Dollet regime…"_

_Li_

Finally in her misery she had done what she had always done when her brittle pride finally shattered, and realised the wall in front of her would not fall no matter how hard she screamed at it.

She went home.

_Long walk, _her mind told her.

_Fuck you._

* * *

"I am requesting-"

"Ms Nuo-"

"I am requesting that-"

"Li, stop it."

She faced Squall Leonhart across from his desk. She had guessed (accurately, as Rinoa or anyone else could have told her) that he wasn't really comfortable acting as the dutiful headmaster, and she had made her appointment and leapt on that weakness.

_Weakness? Is this what I am now? Just another schemer?_

"Garden made a deal with Dollet."

"We made a deal with your father, _cadet_ Nuo."

_Father._ The word was a tiny hammer-blow into her heart. She ignored it. "Garden made a contract to defend Dollet. I am requesting that the contract be honoured."

Squall shook his head. "We can't go back there while Galbadia occupies it in force." He sighed and his voice dropped its officious tone. "Don't you think I want to?" Li's eyes widened in shock as Squall's laconic expression dropped away and was replaced by a fury she had never noticed before. "Don't you think I _want_ to go burn Deling to the ground?"

"Garden is one school Li Nuo," Shiva said from her position behind Squall's desk. "What would you have us do, a suicide attack into the heart of Galbadia?"

_Yes!_ "No." Her mind ran through other options desperately. "Then let me go home and-"

"You would be arrested as a war criminal and executed in Deling," Shiva said. "I have been through this with the Commander. You are still a SeeD cadet and will remain so."

_I think- I don't know what I think. I just need to do _something_ to make this feeling go away_. She could feel the tears welling up again and forced them back down. _I will be a stone._ She looked across from Squall into the corner of the room, and addressed the person she saw there. "Then maybe the Guardians could-"

Shiva spoke one word: "No," and against that cold force Li knew there was no appeal.

She looked back at Squall. "Thank you for your time, Commander." She saw the words make him flinch and she savoured this small triumph.

She made it all the way out of the office and into the elevator before she began to forced herself into calm. She knew she had to speak to someone, anyone, and only one person was left.

* * *

He was almost on her when a glance and a raised finger told him he was discovered. He waited patiently as she turned back to the class. "Last assignment for the day then; explain in your own words how magic interacts with the laws of thermodynamics. Dismissed!"

He stood aside to avoid the stream of students rushing past him. When the two of them were alone in the classroom he came in and let the door swing gently shut. He risked a joke. "So how does it?"

"It's a trick question. It ignores them entirely." Instructor Trepe looked up at Leonard. "Cadet Nerva, aren't you supposed to be convalescing?" Instructor Trepe said with a disapproving tone.

Leonard shuffled his feet nervously. _How to start this conversation._ After asking around he'd come to the conclusion that Instructor Trepe was the one to come to with problems. Kayes was uninterested in his cadet's woes except those directly related to self-improvement, Kinneas vanished like a ghost at the end of lessons, and Leonhart was…well…he couldn't imagine going to the Commander with this

The two stood in silence for a few seconds before Quistis took pity on the poor boy. _I can guess what this is about. It took him this long to realise for himself._ "Follow me Leonard."

The two of them walked the halls of Garden as Leonard made his opening gambit. "I need some advice Instructor."

They made a turnoff as Quistis answered. Leonard vaguely recognised the signs but was too engrossed in his thoughts for it to register. "This is about Dollet." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"And your friends."

"Yes."

Leonard looked up as he felt something brush against his coat, and realised they had come to the training centre. He hadn't really spent much time here, but he knew some fellow students who if given the chance would probably never leave. Almas had loved it. Quistis motioned him to silence and brushed aside foliage as they walked deeper into the false jungle. Usually Leonard would have been on the lookout for hungry wildlife, but the permanent residents of the training centre had long been conditioned against attacking peach-coloured humans with long metal chains. "We're almost there."

_Where is this anyway?_ He'd never been this far into the centre before. It seemed huge from inside, massive trees and vines surrounding him, with faint growls and padded footsteps stalking the ground. Finally they came to a stop as Quistis brushed aside a vine and revealed a metal door set into the wall.

"I used to come here a lot, back when the training centre wasn't quite so…feral." She shoved it open to reveal a small observation platform and gestured ahead of her. "Come on in."

_Wow._ The view was stunning. Leonard could hear the dull roar of the Garden machinery below him and glanced down to see the rotating rings hover silently above the ocean, light refracting off the ocean spray and lighting up the air. For a second he was awed, but then he remembered why he was here. "Instructor-"

She didn't even let him finish. "You can't just up and leave Leonard."

_HOW THE FU-_

Quistis smiled sadly and shook her head. "I brought you here because you're not the first person to consider quitting SeeD after being through something like Dollet."

_Are you a mind-reader too?_ _Well screw it. _"That's the problem, I _didn't_ go through it." The bitterness in his voice was thick. "I hitched a ride on the rescue team. I didn't help either of them. What's the use of being a SeeD if it's always like this?"

Quistis didn't have to be told who 'they' were. "So you saw how deep the ocean was and now you want to get out of the water because you're afraid you'll drown? Why did you sign up for Garden in the first place Leonard?"

_To protect-_

Quistis' voice was cold. "To protect your friends, clearly. And how would you have protected them if you'd been in Galbadia or Dollet from the start? Another victim for Caraway to lay at Squall's feet? One more body to be hauled up by the Ragnarok?" Quistis smiled inwardly as she saw a bit of vigour return to Leonard's eyes. "You did what you could with the talent you had. That's all SeeD will ever ask of you."

_So this is the strength it takes to save the world?_ To his closest friends Leonard would never have revealed it, but he had always been awed by the six heroes. When he was younger he had eagerly sought out any information he could on the Sorceress War and the SeeDs who had won it, even though everyone he talked to and everything he read seemed to have conflicting accounts of what had actually happened in that confusing year. It was hero worship, plain and simple. When Li had decided to join SeeD he had been mere steps behind in announcing that by Hyne if _she_ could do it, he damn well wasn't going to get left behind.

But his nature couldn't let her have it all her own way. "Is this the boilerplate pep-talk speech your instructor gave _you_?"

Leonard was surprised when instead of smiling or shaking her head Quistis Trepe, SeeD instructor and bona-fide saviour of the world, just laughed gently and blushed. If his heart hadn't been sold years ago he might have given it away right then.

"The last time I was here, I was in _your_ position, and the person in _my_ position told me to go talk to a wall." Leonard gaped. "That's all the wisdom I have for today, cadet. Now either get back to your classes, or the infirmary. Just think about what I said."

Leonard grinned and ripped off a picture-perfect salute. "Yes _ma'am._"

She called him back as he was almost out the door. "But Mr Nerva?"

"Yes?"

"I'd go and see your friend first."

* * *

"Nice, huh?

Almas looked across at the man and resisted the urge to glare, her misery temporarily forgotten by the sheer _élan_ of the guy as he sat down next to her.

She was sat on the derelict platform on the edge of the bridge, watching the ocean below. She'd made some progress across the railway and had finally stopped to rest as dusk drew near. Her tattered SeeD uniform had been proof against any muggers or scrap-hunters prowling the railway so far, but...

"Sometimes I like to walk the rails as well, just take it all in." He glanced across at her but she refused to respond. "Quiet type huh? Well, I can talk enough for two people."

She couldn't help it. "Oh Hyne just shoot me now." Her voice croaked with disuse.

The old man gave a wheezing laugh. To Almas' young eyes he looked ninety if he was a day. "Not dead then, eh? But then you SeeD types always were tough."

She looked around in surprise, forgetting her misery momentarily, and then mentally kicked herself. _As if there's anyone alive that doesn't know the SeeD symbol you dolt!_

"Ayep. I remember that uniform from the last time you fellas rolled through this neck of the woods." He took a long drag on his ancient cigarette and for a second his genial façade dropped with remembrance. "You smashed up this place pretty good."

She sighed. "Well if it helps I'm not really a SeeD right now."

"Uniform says different," he said. "But I guess I know what you really mean."

"And just what do you think I mean, old man?" The bitterness in her voice came through loud and clear, but the old man just shook his head.

"Person in a raggedy uniform like that, taking the long way to the only place on the planet that doesn't give a damn about who you were before you got there?" He took another drag. "Never met a deserter from a Garden before. First time for everything I guess."

Anger broke through and flared up, and she was already turning on him in a blind fury when he rolled up the sleeve of his old coat to reveal a faded ink tattoo. "Galbadian Infantry, first of the fourth, kiddo. You're not the only one who couldn't face the army life."

The words she had been about to spit at the man died on her lips.

He went on as if she hadn't been about to take his head off. "So tell me, from one old soldier to another; what was it that got you?"

A spark of defiance remained however. "Me, _old?_" She stopped short of ridicule though, when she saw the look of pity in his eyes.

"Girl you have the oldest eyes on a young person I've ever seen."

The pair sat in silence for minutes, and it was Almas who finally relented. "I met my mother this week. I didn't even know my mother was alive." _There, I said it. No use denying it now. You can deny it to yourself all you want Almas but you know you weren't wrong._

"Hell kid that's great news!" The old man took in her expression. "Or is it?"

"She tried to kill me." Almas' wandering hands picked up a chink of stone and threw it off the bridge. She didn't hear it hit the water. "She tried to kill me and the person she was with is playing me like a cheap fiddle and _I don't even know why!"_

It wasn't until she heard the sound of creaking metal that she looked down and saw the buckled iron plate beneath her hand. Dimly she realised it was the arm that was…wrong. _Sure, why not, I can tear metal with my bare hands. Makes as much sense as anything else that's happened to me this month. _"So screw it, I'm going home. Let the heroes in Garden deal with this stupid war. I'm done here." And didn't it just feel so good to say that._ Let it all go. Just drop Li and Leo like so much baggage and slink off like a rat. Let whatever war is going to happen take its course. Stay and hide in your little idyllic seaside village._

"Sounds to me like you just need some time to get things right in your head."

"Like a billion years," she snorted.

The man stood up and stretched out, throwing his cigarette into the ocean below. "You're hurt and confused and that's alright. Just don't get swept away in it. You're young, you'll get over it." He turned to look at her and for a second she could see the old soldier shine through his age. "If you have a place to go back to, go there. Just look at the sea kid."

She did, her miniscule shadow reflected from the tranquil waters below. "So?"

The old man waved his hand out across the bridge as if to encompass the whole ocean. "You can't reckon it from the surface but there's a fierce tide out there, and if you let it it'll tear you up and spit you out a shell." He stoof hefted his pack. "Find something to cling onto and use as an anchor. You got family back in the Horizon?"

"Yes. My father." _And you can bet he's got a few questions to answer._

"What about friends?"

She hesitated before saying, "I did have. I'm not so sure anymore." The full weight of what she had done pushed at the edge of her mind for her attention.

"My last word on the matter; find them kiddo."

Almas looked at him as he walked off. "Who are you anyway?" she shouted.

The man didn't look back, just waved a hand back. "Just another traveller, kid."

* * *

They met in the halls.

"Li, we need to talk."

Leonard grabbed her by the arm and was about to force her to turn when he realised Li was already pivoting into him.

His surprise was even greater when she forced his head down to hers and kissed him hard on the lips.

It took a second of utter shock (_and delight Leo, admit it) _before Leonard regained enough of his composure to drag the two of them out of the corridor and into the nearest room, which by a miracle was empty. Then he was lost in her, in her smell, in her taste.

It felt like an eternity before Li let him go. "Errr, this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I said-"

"Leo," she whispered.

"What?"

"Just shut up." She leaned back into him, and then neither of them felt like talking.

* * *

Almas didn't know how long she spent looking out at the ocean after he left.

Her thoughts and the old man's words spun around in her head. It had seemed so _right_ to just forget it all and go home. To beat down the door of her old home and demand questions from her father. Hold up this grotesquery where her arm should have been and scream out for answers.

_Would a SeeD do that?_

_Shit, would anyone?_ The man's last words rung in her head.

_There's a fierce tide out there, and if you let it it'll tear you up and spit you out as a shell._

She sighed. She was still probably closer to Dollet than to Fisherman's Horizon. Maybe if she swung around the outskirts and stole a fishing boat… _That's stupid, you think Garden is still where it _was?_ They'll be long-gone. The Horizon's your only hope Almas._

She stood up and for the first time in days felt a new fire in her heart where the misery had been. _Only hope to fix this mess._

"Well well. About time I caught up with you."

She looked around, annoyed at the interruption in her train of thought, and was met by a man in a white jacket. "And you are?"

The man looked at her intently. It was unnerving. "Someone who's put a great deal of effort into finding you, brat."

Almas went into a fighting stance without thinking. "Well, looks like you found me. What do you want?"

The man laughed and drew his weapon. "I've got no time for games. You're coming with me."

"You think you can make me?"

Seifer Almasy smirked. "I reckon so."


	12. Stones Break on Waves

"So there's nothing I can do to convince you?"

"After what you've done here_?_ No, I don't think so."

He gestured stepped over the bodies of the guards outside her door. Brave souls who had refused to abandon their posts, who had known that their service was to a greater ideal than mere country or ideology. She only regretted that their reward had been so harsh.

"It's regrettable, but I'm sure someone of your intellect must understand our reasons. No room for vipers in our little nest anymore."

"So we were poisonous snakes, were we? I can think of at least one person, here, who fits the description more aptly."

She sipped from her cup as she looked down on the view from the high-up windows of her office. The faint clash of metal striking metal and a dull roar at the edge of hearing were the only signs that there was anything out of the ordinary in the pristine facility. "I will admit your reasoning is obtuse. All this trouble and pain, and for what?"

Her companion waved his hand to encompass the room they were standing in, the building, the country, the world. "The march of history."

A raised eyebrow. "That's going to be your excuse, is it? Your grand declaration of manifest destiny: '_Because we can and you can't stop us'?"_

The man shrugged. "Well, his excuse more than mine, obviously, but we'll be quite happy to go along with his tawdry dreams for now."

"Implying you have greater ones?"

He smiled, as if replying to a private joke only they knew. "But of course."

A bone-shuddering crash distracted her and she looked down to see a giant black three-headed beast smash trough the concrete walls into the square below. Cerberus twisted around in the air somehow and managed to land on all fours. The Guardian howled in rage as a second monstrous form blasted through the concrete, its elaborately-carved hand-cannons spitting fire as it nimbly dodged the massive swipes of the huge dog's claws.

The half-equine, half-woman creature scored deep marks down Cerberus' flank with the twisted and pointed ends of her arms. The dog spun around, tail swinging around as the monster moved too slowly, and caught it and sent it flying through the planted garden of the square.

_Back to the business at hand. _"And would your courtesy extend to telling me these dreams?"

He smiled and shook his head sadly. "No, I don't think so. Frankly I think you're getting the better end of the deal here. A chance to get in on the ground floor."

Anger simmered just below the surface, but she steadied herself as she drank. Control had always been her watchword. "You'll excuse me of course if I don't see it the same way."

The ground splintered and shuddered as the quake ran through the ground towards the enemy. It tensed as the ground underneath it cracked and jumped aside, only to find Cerberus had _already_ leaped and was headed right for it.

The monster screamed as the massive jaws sunk into its neck. Three pairs of dagger-like teeth began to sink deep into the quasi-flesh of the thing and Cerberus howled with joy. His joy however was short-lived when sliding doors opened and blue-suited soldiers swarmed out. He felt the itch of small-arms fire on his side and swung around, letting go as he did so and sending the chimeric thing sailing into them, impacting with the satisfying sound of breaking bones and crushed flesh.

"Ever since we came up I've always respected you more than your more…impulsive…comrades." He put out his hands in front of him as if he were nothing more than a man making a business proposition. "Think it over logically. Your little party will be wiped out before long, there's no doubt about it." He began to tick off points on his fingers. "Timber's people will go to the forests and pretend to be a relevant insurgency again, Balamb is a tourist destination for bored pensioners. Winhill is a non-entity, the Shumi will sit down and do what they're told when the new order arrives, and-"

"Esthar," she said with a thin smile of her own. "What about Esthar?"

Cerberus didn't hesitate. He charged the tangled mass of Galbadian troops, those too slow or witless to move out of the way falling victim to his crushing jaws and massive limbs. While all three of his heads were busy his opponent took the chance to extricate itself and blasted away at Cerberus with its free arm. He roared in pain as one of his heads caught the full brunt of the blast and was torn to shreds, dark blood spewing from the shattered remains.

Cerberus staggered backwards as the demon's assault continued, wounds opening in his side. His anger only rose and the concrete floor buckled under him as he roared. The creature met his roar with its own, tinged with triumph. The firing ceased as it swung its arms, ornate red-metal blades scything through the air and slamming into Cerberus' sides.

The man's smile became a grin. "What's one nation against the world?" He leaned forward again. "As much as he wishes he was, Fury isn't omnipresent. He's going to need governors and leaders, _real_ leaders, to take over while he sits in Deling and rules the world."

For a single millisecond her scorn shone through the calm exterior. "And you're going to offer me a position as one of these governors? Caraway's tame hound so he can indulge his megalomania in peace?" She stood behind her desk imperiously. "Don't make me laugh."

He tried one last time. "It will be a golden age. A world united under one banner. No more reason for conflict when everyone is in the family."

Blood soaked the commons now. Cerberus was putting up what defence it could but not enough, not enough, and he was driven back under the relentless assault. The square was a ruin, concrete and rebar torn like soil, and the planted gardens ploughed up under the force of the battle and thrown over everything. The creature cried out in triumph and drove its blades deep into Cerberus neck, and a second head fell to the ground with an obscene _thunk_.

_Finally, a little peace and quiet,_ he thought as he got up on shaky limbs and growled as menacingly as he could manage at his attacker, a face out of history he had thought left far behind. But there was, at least, some small consolation that there was no shame in losing to the best.

She shook her head. "Until your own plans come to fruition, you mean?"

A shrug. "All good things come to an end. At least this way humanity will go out at the top of their game. A shining capstone on all those centuries spent crawling out of the mud and soil of your ancestors."

She put her hand to the glass and looked down into the square, suppressing a shudder as she saw the tableaux before her.

It was over. The great beast lay on the ground surrounded by a pool of black blood. The creature towered over him, blades raised to the sky and screaming victory. Even as she watched the great hound _my old friend, I'm so sorry_ began to lose form and dissipate, and within seconds he was gone. Forever. Along with the friends she had made here in this facility, cut down when they proclaimed loyalty to her and her ideals, rather than to a corrupt and power-mad dictator. They had paid for their loyalty with their life.

Footsteps grew louder as she listened and the door burst open behind her, the opposite method of the man standing before her, who had walked through her security like a ghost to knock politely at her door and make his offer. They were already pointing their rifles at her and she felt the fear begin to break through. But she had a reputation to maintain. "Unfortunately it seems my next appointment has arrived." She drew the line however at reaching out to shake the hand he had extended.

Melanthios sighed. He'd never harboured any real hope. But Caraway had insisted he make the effort to convert her. More than his errant sister/comrade he knew that loyalty, true loyalty, the kind that would make a human throw themselves in front of blades and bullets for another, could never be bought with cheap baubles. When he spoke there was almost some regret in his voice, but whether it was genuine or one last roll of the die was impossible to tell. "I'm just sorry we couldn't come to an agreement." The only sound in the room was the _click_ of removed safeties as the faceless emotionless drones levelled their weapons. "Is there anything you'd like me to pass on? Any last request to be granted?"

Xu turned to face the man in black, and on her face there was only a smile, and in her voice there was no fear. "Leonhart's blade through your rotten soul is the only request I have, and I don't need _your _assurances that he'll manage to grant it."

"As you will. Fire."

* * *

Olesia's crystal dawn.

Ifrit's death shook the city to its core, and the gap he had left behind demanded to be filled by a like presence. _Something_ had stepped into that empty place in the world, and now the unholy intruder stalked the city.

Leviathan had retreated to the inner sanctum of the city to observe the carnage as his comrades fought. He had never felt the lust for battle that some of his brothers and sisters felt and was content to watch as the battle ran through the imaginary city.

The sky cracked as Quezacotl blasted lightning down into the _houses_ below, those inhabitants of lesser power taking refuge in their homes. Crystal dwellings shattered as thunder tore down into the fiery gigyas, who could do nothing more than rage at his attacker from the ground and smash apart the city with his mace. Leviathan knew that he was relatively weak, separated from his own home by two dimensions. His assault was a symbol he knew. An attack on their very home, a spit in the eye of the Guardians and their city:

_We are here now, and you are not safe, even in your crystal-spun fortress._

As he watched the fire-demon faded into nothing, not from death but simply called back down to the side of its master. Quezacotl screeched angrily at the charred spot where it had stood and cursed its own powerlessness.

Leviathan felt wind buffet around him and twisted around to face Bahamut as the great dragon reared.

"One More Falls."

His intellect only needed a second to work on the problem. "Cerberus is dead." he replied._ Then Xu Tyyne with him. Pacis ut cado, fellow warrior._ He had liked Xu, although she had never had the gift for magic like her friends had and thus hadn't been able to maintain him in the physical world.

"The Gigyas Will Not Be The First, Now That The Threshold Is Exposed."

Both of them knew that Cerberus' position as watcher of Olesia's entrance had been symbolic, but in the city symbols _mattered_. The death of the gate-guardian was the equivalent of a smashed fortress door, an open invitation for anyone to walk in…

"Assuming they know where the entrance is," Leviathan said.

Bahamut didn't ask for him to clarify. They had known each other long enough. "Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold." He reared up, spreading his wings over the amphitheatre as if to intimidate the sea-serpent. "Go Down To The World. Tell Them Their Greatest Allies Are Under Threat."

Leviathan nodded but his thoughts were elsewhere. _Is that genuine fear in your voice, old drake? Could it be after all this time spouting nonsense of independence and magical supremacy you actually _need help_ from these frail humans?_

"And Leviathan?" Bahamut said.

"Hmm?"

"Tell Shiva That Secrecy Is A Luxury We Can No Longer Afford. Do You Understand Me?"

Leviathan bristled. _Do you take me for a fool?_ "Yes."

Bahamut turned away. His orders had been given. There was no reason for him to pay further attention to his fellow Guardian. "Then Go."

As Leviathan faded out of the city and into base reality, Bahamut took flight and left the central forum to soar above the city. He felt his anger dissipate as he flew over his realm, the scars left by Belias' assault already healing. They would be gone by the morning. It galled him that he had to rely on the pale apes for assistance, but as flew he reflected that even pawns had their uses. Of course, the loss of a pawn was hardly important. Edea Kramer had shown Bahamut the human dalliance called 'Chess' once and the metaphor appealed to him.

It did not occur to the Guardian king that his opponents might be playing a very different game.

* * *

Selphie found Zell in the training dojo by following the dull thuds. SeeD trainees were looking at her worriedly as she approached the door and she put on a smile for them. "I'll deal with this, no sweat."

Most of them looked relieved but one of them (and from the looks of his muscles Selphie guessed he was one of Zell's trainees) still looked worried. "I've never seen him like this before Ma'am."

She waved away his objections and pushed open the door to the dojo. Instantly the sounds intensified and she walked in before the others could notice. No sense getting them even more worked up. Worry was contagious.

Zell was alone; close up against a training dummy and punching it so hard she could almost feel the force of it from the other side of the room. As she walked up to him she could hear him swearing under his breath.

"_God-"_

"Heya Zell-"

"_Damn-"_

"Zell?"

"_Galbadian-"_

"Zell!"

"_SCUM!"_

"ZELL!"

The dummy finally shattered under the man's fists and he looked around in surprise. "Sephy?"

"I think you got him good Zell."

He looked back at the dummy and looked surprised. "Guess…so…" he panted. He collapsed to the ground. "Just can't think…of anything else to do."

Selphie sat down next to him. "Zell…"

"They're killing us out there and we're just sat here, doing nothing."

"We're not doing nothing, Zell."

"We're doing _nothing,"_ he repeated angrily.

She had never heard Zell like this. Even when the report had came through and Quistis had openly wept, Selphie knew she would do her grieving privately. Zell hadn't moved a muscle until the gathering was over, and then had just walked out of the room without a word.

"All my life I wanted to be the strongest Sephy, to protect my friends you know? Now here I am, I made it to the top, and yet all I can do it sit here and pound on these goddamn wooden dummies."

Selphie leaned against Zell's shoulder. "It'll be okay in the end Zell."

He looked across at her in surprise. "You really believe that?"

She nodded confidently. "I do. We'll win because in the end we're right and they're wrong."

Zell flicked away a piece of wood. It flew across the room and stuck into the wall. "Yeah, well, I just wish we could do something about it _right now_."

"We're going to Esthar. If anyone knows what to do, President Loire will."

That brought a smile to Zell's face. Selphie's hero-worship of Laguna had never quite faded, even after she and Irvine had got together. Much to Irvine's annoyance. "You think he'll just wave his magic wand and the Galbadians will all go home?"

She laughed. _Hey, at least he's smiling now. You still got the magic touch Selphie Tilmitt._ "But of course! There's nothing the brave and mighty Sir Laguna can't do!"

"I hear he can't tie his own shoelaces some days."

"Liar!" She laughed and struck out at him playfully.

Zell raised his arms and grimaced in mock terror to ward off her blows. "If he can find his shoes at all."

Laughter echoed through the empty room. At least in one place that afternoon there were still some spirits that no amount of adversity could break

* * *

"Xu was the first friend I ever had after the orphanage, before I became a SeeD."

Rinoa was silent. What could she even say?

_She wants someone to help her,_ Squall had said quietly after they went their separate ways. _That someone can't be me._

Shiva had been even blunter. _We will need her. Make sure she doesn't break._

"You had a home before Garden?" Rinoa asked in surprise.

Moonlight was shining through the window into Quistis' instructor's quarters. The two women were sat at the small kitchen table, an open bottle of wine open in front of them.

Quistis shook her head. "I wouldn't call it a home." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Just a place I lived at between the orphanage and here."

"Bad memories?"

A nod. "The problem wasn't them, it was me." Quistis lifted her empty hand and a small mote of light appeared on her palm. "It was this, of course."

Blue Magic. Out of all the millions in the world no more than a handful of people were able to use it. Not as powerful as true Sorcery but with a wildness and unpredictable savagery that had taken Rinoa by surprise more than once. A genetic inheritance, passed down by a withering bloodline whose origins were lost to history.

"They were afraid of me."

"I can understand, I-"

"No, you can't." Quistis glanced across at Rinoa's expression and her tone softened. "I was five, Rin, and my new 'parents' were afraid of me. This thing I can do, this gift my real parents left me, it was wild and…unpredictable." She shuddered, some painful memory dragged to the surface after years submerged. "I can't really blame them I suppose. Magic's terrifying stuff to your average man in the street, and here I was a small child who could turn furniture to matchwood from across the room, or heal her own scrapes and bruises, and they were just two normal people and no-one could explain to them how a small girl could do this."

"So you ran away."

"So I ran away. All the way to Balamb."

* * *

_She steps into the docks unsure of herself, a small child barely into her tenth year who begged and pleaded her way onto the ferry. It's a big place and she doesn't know where to go. She wanted to run away, to the farthest place in the world, and she guesses this is far enough. She's heard about something here, a new place that people with no home can come to._

_She spots the other child easily. Even at ten years old Xy Tyyne has a poise and grace that could have shamed some adults. Quistis Trepe (she had never answered to the name her adopted parents had tried to force on her, and eventually they had stopped trying) harbours what confidence she has and walks over. "Heya. You new here as well?"_

_The raven-haired girl stares back at her for a few seconds before replying. "Yes."_

_Quistis is nervous. Back at the orphanage she was always the mature one, the one In Charge Of Stuff, but this other girl has her stumped. "Umm… Are you here to see the Garden?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Do you want to go see it together?" she blurts out._

_But instead of laughing at her, the girl just smiles. "Okay."_

* * *

"I don't know why Xu joined Garden, she never told me. I guess we were just too lonely kids, and at least this way we could be lonely together." Quistis sighed and took another draw from her glass. "After I was the one who became a SeeD first we drifted apart a little bit. Xu was always the great organiser, she loved making sure everything was just right for everyone. Her own wishes could take a backseat." She leaned back in her chair and smiled at the memories. "She could have been headmaster of Balamb by now."

"You must have loved her a lot."

"We were sisters. Of course, then I met Squall."

Rinoa leaned forward. "Tell me about it." _I want to know._

Quistis must have seen Rinoa's eager expression, because she was smiling as she talked. "Oh he wasn't much different from when you first met him."

Rinoa could recall the moment with crystal clarity even years later. "Tall, dark and mysterious."

"Exactly. You can see the appeal." They both laughed. "Of course neither of us remembered each other. I'd already been using Guardians for a couple of years, and Squall…well…what with Ellone and everything I guess he just didn't want to remember."

"No embarrassing stories?" Rinoa teased.

"Nope, none. Of course he hardly ever did anything that would put him at risk of being embarrassed. Not like Seifer. Seifer did anything he wanted and I'm pretty sure he wasn't capable of even feeling the emotion. For a few months Xu was infatuated with him."

"I-what?" Rinoa said in shock.

"I guess we were both looking for someone else to fill that emptiness we both had. Xu found her calling being the Garden's steward, I found Squall. Of course Squall had other ideas." Quistis looked across at Rinoa. "For a while I was jealous of you two. You seemed made for each other. It drove me up the wall how he responded to you, after all the time we'd trained together and he'd barely give me the time of day." There was no anger in her voice, Rinoa just knew she was hearing the truth. "In the end I realised I didn't want Squall because he was Squall, but because he was one more person to help me feel I was part of something, not just all by myself in a sea of strangers."

There is a soft flap of wingbeats on the balcony outside but Rinoa barely registers it. "And now?"

Whatever Quistis is about to say dies on her lips as she glances around. Rinoa turns to see Siren looking nervous and surprised. She's is blushing slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry Quistis I didn't know you had company. I can come back lat-"

Quistis smiles, not just a smile of fond memories or shared laughter but a deeper one. She stands and before she has taken a single step towards the Guardian Rinoa _knows_.

"Now I have what I've always wanted."

_No way._ "Umm…I should probably…"

"Rin?"

"Yes?" she says.

She hugs the younger woman. "Thank you." When she disengages some of the hurt has vanished from her eyes. "And don't worry about me so much, okay? Tell Squall he's doing fine."

Rinoa laughs as she pictures Squall's worried expression as he asked her to escort Quistis back to her room. "I think he'll get the hang of it eventually."

"Me too. And Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"You look after him, now." She leans in to whisper in Rinoa's ear. "There's nothing worse than being alone, Rin. Make him see that."

Relief floods through Rinoa as she leaves, and she glances over at Siren. _You'll take care of her then?_

Siren's smile gives the answer: _Always._

* * *

"And did you have fun?"

The two are leaning against an APC outside Galbadia Garden. Gunfire can still be heard from inside as the final pockets of resistance are erased. The sharp bangs of the rifles is becoming more and more seldom.

He sighs. "Not really." He had harboured some hope for the Tyyne human, but in the end that stubborn ape pack-loyalty had won out. Pity.

Tisiphone leaned back and stretched out. Melanthios can see how ruined she still is. Her worldshell body is much sturdier than his, imagined and created for power and durability, but the rigidity required for this means its self-repair abilities are slower than his. The worst of the damage from her battle with Ifrit is mostly gone, but she still resembles a cracked china doll. He finds it distasteful. "I thought you'd be in there, sampling the barb, so to speak."

She sneers. "There's no-one in there I'd waste my time on."

"Is that a comment on my own activities?"

Tisiphone doesn't bother with things like tact or subtlety. She stares at him directly as she answers: "Yes."

He knows that in her eyes he's weak, no match for her physically. _You're stupid, sister._ "Just because I'd rather rule than destroy."

"Two down, _brother_, and we have a way _in_ now. We should be charging into their rotten city and putting the dragon's head on a pike."

"All two of us?"

"Has your courage been lost somewhere in that disgusting shell you wear?"

"No more than your common sense," he shoots back.

And there is the heart of their disagreement. Melanthios knows more than his impulsive and angry sibling how thin their chance is, how much energy and time, oh so much time, has been put into planning this one last strike. They must walk a knives'-edge to make their people's final vengeance work. But Tisiphone had _always_ run where walking would do.

"And your little plan with the girl has done nothing." Melanthios doesn't reply and she jumps on his reticence, sensing weakness. "Your little stroke of genius has come to nothing. Easier to have just killed her and be done with it, instead of the brat wandering around." She spits and a spot of blood arcs onto the floor.

He's been thinking the same thing, but his pride would never let him say that to her. "Patience was always a virtue you lacked." He spots one of the Galbadian soldiery walking towards them. "Yes?"

The man salutes nervously, trying not to glance at the shattered woman in red. "Pacification complete, sir."

Melanthios gives the man the full benefit of his smile. "Good work. Take us home." The man jogs away, gesturing into his radio.

Tisiphone shakes her head in disgust. "Just worthless drones."

_And that's _why_ you're stupid._

He's thinking ahead to the glorious day when all their plans are complete, their final revenge enacted and his people once again ruling from the throne of the world. But being around the humans has helped him learn his own lessons, and he has his own ideas about who will be sitting in the central chair.

_No monarch ever shared a throne, dear sister._


	13. Steel Tower Calm

"Take her in slow, no sense in scratching the old girl's paintwork," Cid said, serenely gazing outside.

"Yes, Headmaster," Nida said wearily.

A crowd lined the jetty as Balamb Garden pulled into Esthar.

Squall stared out of the windows of the Garden cockpit, Rinoa leaning on him. "At least some people are still grateful."

She punched him lightly on the arm. "Oh don't be such a sourpuss."

"Hey, even if the rest of the world thinks we're amoral mercenaries with monsters on-demand, at least _one_ place still takes our calls," Zell piped up.

Metal grinded on metal as clamps and scaffolding swung in to secure the massive floating building into place. Squall heard Nida breathe a sigh of relief as the Garden coasted to a stop in the harbour.

"Looks like we're expected," Cid said calmly, and pointed.

Squall followed his finger to see a small group of men stood apart from the gawping crowd and sighed. Five white-suited Esthar soldiers were staring up at the Garden. Behind them was a ground vehicle Squall recognised as the Esthar equivalent of a jeep. "It must have been sent by Kiros. No way Laguna knew we'd get in this soon."

Cid chuckled. "You always underestimate the man."

Rinoa held onto Squall just a little bit tighter as she said; "Well, I don't think we should keep the President waiting, do you?"

"Yeah, it's a long walk inland otherwise," Zell said.

"Well that's how we got there the first time, remember. With baggage."

Rinoa blushed. "Not my fault I was…incapacitated…"

Squall smiled at the memory. "Plus you're heavier now and- arrgh!"

"That's enough out of you!"

* * *

Approaching Esthar from the ground was breathtaking. It first appeared as a white glint on the massive salt plains, steadily growing and spreading as they travelled ever closer, eventually covering the horizon to either side side and to the sky itself. A gleaming technological metropolis that made even the bustling electricity-driven sophistication of Deling City look like a quaint farm village in comparison.

Selphie was seeing stars. She had called shotgun the second the Garden doors had swung open and insisted the vehicle ride with the top-down, which their military driver had quietly obliged.

"I looooove it!" She looked back down at Squall. "Think we can do some sightseeing?"

"Selphie, you did plenty of sightseeing the last time we were here," Quistis said. Rinoa could see her hand was idly holding Siren's, but said nothing. What the woman chose to keep as a secret was her own prerogative.

Selphie pouted. "Yeah but we were chasing after a giant crystal box remember! Not much chance for window-shopping."

"Just remember why we're at Esthar in the first place," the blonde instructor said sternly.

"Yes _ma'am._ And you're here to ground us if we step out of line or get back late, right?" Zell said with a childish smirk.

"Depend on it."

Squall sighed in misery and bent his head next to Rinoa's. "It's going to be an unbearable visit," he whispered.

"Yep," she replied happily.

"Approaching the city limits now sir," the driver said towards Squall.

"Hey, I see 'em!" Selphie shouted down.

The city towered above them. Skyscrapers Squall would have had to almost lean over to see the top of (Selphie was going to go home with a sore neck, he could tell) covered in ribbons of walkways and teeming with people. The nation had spent decades alone, voluntarily cut off from the rest of the world and making their own way, and it set them apart from the rest of the more rural and feudalistic world. Esthar was a world unto itself.

Two people waited at the checkpoint where the salt plains finally ended and smoothed concrete and paving began. A huge brick building of a man who stood quietly, clearly uncomfortable in his ceremonial robes, and a lean and muscled black figure looking utterly at home in his quasi-military garb.

Squall gave a genuine smile as the jeep rolled to a stop and he greeted Kiros and Ward. He had always liked the two men, especially compared to their bumbling superior. He found Kiros' confidence comforting in its totality that yes, he could handle anything you could throw at him.

"Squall, good to see you again," Kiros shook hands and grinned. "Long time since the second sorceress war."

"Sir Kiros, Ward!"

The man beamed as the others exited the ground-craft. "Selphie, Zell! It's good to see you _all_ again." He looked sideways at the other occupants and gave a polite bow. "Lady Shiva, Lady Siren."

Shiva nodded back and Siren gave a small wave. "A pleasure."

"I was sorry to hear about your loss. Ifrit was a good warrior. We pray it will be the last."

Squall felt a tightness in his chest as Shiva replied; "While welcome, your sentiments are too late I fear." When Kiros raised an eyebrow the Guardian went on. "Cerberus has fallen."

Shocked, Kiros turned to Squall. "What?"

He nodded. "They took over Galbadia Garden. Xu is dead and they killed all the SeeD trainees who didn't swear loyalty to Galbadia."

Ward was crestfallen. Even though his voice had been irreparably shattered years ago the big man had never had any trouble getting his thoughts across. They were clear now. _I'm sorry._

Kiros was more direct. "Those _fuckers_." He shook his head. "I don't really know what else to say. If they have a working Garden again-"

"They don't, really," Zell said. "It's just a hovering shell right now; all it can do is float around slowly." He saw the others looking at him. "What? I keep up with this stuff."

Kiros nodded. "Still it's bad news." There was a low humming noise and he gestured behind him as a disc floated down out of a translucent tunnel. "Our ride's here. Come on, it'll take us straight to the palace."

"Time to go see The Man."

* * *

"I don't like it here."

"Hmm?"

Siren was looking out at the city as they whirred past. "It feels…wrong."

"Wrong how?" Quistis asked softly.

"Like I'm disconnected somehow."

"I can feel it too," Shiva said. "Like a cold wind blowing inside."

_Must be pretty damn cold if _you_ can feel it,_ Squall diplomatically didn't say. He turned back to Kiros. "Are we there yet?"

The man waved his question off. "Couple more minutes." He frowned and looked back down at the screen he was holding. If he hadn't been here before Squall would never have believed you could fit a computer into something that thin, but he'd long since resigned himself to miracles being commonplace in Esthar. "Few more people coming in for our little war council."

"Anyone we know?" Selphie chirped before going back to staring eagerly out of the travel-corridor.

Ward chuckled: _You might say that._

* * *

"I don't like surprises like this, Odine."

Laguna stared across his desk at the little pouting hologram in front of him. Just his luck the greatest scientific mind in Esthar (and therefore de-facto of all humanity) was this preening figure.

"_You vould know ziss if you paid more attention to my reports Mr Prezident!"_

"I _do_ have other obligations doctor."

"_More important zan ze future of humanity!"_

_You wouldn't think so, the way he goes on_. But he wouldn't say that, for fear the man would lock himself in his labs and stay cooped in there for weeks. Again. He decided to try another approach. "You're coming up here for the council anyway doctor, might as well tell everyone at once."

"_Hah! I have seen ze people on ze monitors, coming to ze palace."_ Odine gave a snort audible even though the communicator._ "Teenaged rebels and ze fairy-prinzesses."_

"They've not been teenagers for a long while now, doctor. And I'd watch what you called the Guardian emissaries unless you want to start living dangerously."

"_Emissaries! Spiez in our midst! _Invited_ into the heart of the city! You allow the very enemies of humanity to-"_

He shut off the comm. system. Laguna figured that any time spent talking to Odine would surely be deducted from his stay in whatever hell he found himself in upon death, but even he had limits. He had other considerations today.

He only realised his right hand had went to the pendant around his neck when he was jerked out of his reverie by the insistent beep of his comms. "Loire."

"_Swordsman."_

Immediately alert, Laguna sat up. "Yes?"

"_Coming in now. We'll be a couple of days."_

"We? You have them?" he said excitedly.

"_Yeah. Do I get a commission?"_

He snorted. "In your dreams. Payment on delivery. We'll wait for you."

"_Got it. At least send a welcoming party out. Not traipsing across your godforsaken wilderness again."_

Laguna grinned evilly. "We'll see." Before the voice at the other end could shout back a response he keyed it off and leaned back in his seat.

_Well well, some good news. _

"Get me Kiros."

* * *

"Change of plans guys."

Squall looked around in annoyance as the platform came to a stop at the bustling station. "What?"

Kiros waved his hands to stave off any objections. "Nothing major. Just waiting for some more guests."

Selphie perked up instantly. "Does this mean…?"

"Take a couple of days. See the sights, since we're not under immediate danger of the world exploding." He glanced over at Squall. "Sorry, bad timing."

Zell sighed. "Well, we can stay in Garden until-" but Ward waved him off with a smile.

"Nice thing about being the government, we can do pretty much whatever we want," Kiros said with a grin. "Stay at the hotel if you want, we'll take care of getting anything you need off the Garden. You know, paperwork, tests to grade, report- hey, hey, I'm kidding!" he said quickly when Squall looked like he was about to punch the older man. "Just take a vacation. You've earned one after the month you guys have had."

Zell punched the air in joy. "Oh man you have _no_ idea."

Rinoa nudged Squall. "A couple of days off _would_ be nice," she said pointedly.

"It's settled then, I'll call ahead of you." Kiros coughed nervously. "I assume that…er…"

"We'll take a room," Rinoa said quickly, grabbing Squall's hand.

Irvine and Selphie shared a look, and then burst out laughing. "Us, too," Selphie managed.

Zell looked thoughtful, and then glanced back the way they had came, and doubtless at the Garden beyond the horizon. "Unless you guys have a training ground in this place-"

"I'm sure the local militia would be honoured to lend you a bunk and a dojo, Zell," Kiros said wryly.

"I will return to the Garden," Shiva said. "I'm sorry, but I find this place disquieting. I will return when the council is called."

Siren looked nervous. "I'd like to stay, but…"

"I'll take you up on that Kiros," Quistis said quickly. "I can double-up with Siren."

"There you go then. Take some time, look around. We'll give a call when we're ready for you." Kiros punched numbers into the keypad and stepped off the platform. "Until then, the city is yours." He smiled. "Have fun."

* * *

"You know this is what I always imagined when I joined SeeD."

Irvine looked over to see Selphie staring out at the vista from their hotel room and smiled. "What?"

She spun around to face him. "You know what Cid told the SeeD trainees entering that year; 'vistas strange and beautiful…"

"'And comrades through thick and thin'." Irvine smiled at the memory as he joined Selphie at the window. "I guess it did come true after all."

They turned as the door slid open. Rinoa walked in, followed by-

"Siren!" Selphie gasped.

Siren was wearing a simple white shift. With her long blonde hair cascading behind her it was stunning in its simplicity. She blushed. "I just thought, since we're not exactly at Garden anymore…"

"Estharians might not be used to a tall winged goddess walking around with nothing on," Rinoa said.

Irvine had a calculating look on. "Well it's true isn't it? Guardians don't really wear clothes. It's not something you really think about with someone like, say, Diablos, (_urrrrgh, _Rinoa thought) but it's a lot more…ummm…noticeable…with you." He grinned. "Nudity _was_ a good fasihion state for you though-_argh_."

Rinoa decided to save Siren before the poor woman melted from sheer embarrassment. "Come on, let's let Selphie kill Irvine in peace." She ushered Siren out and turned back. "You guys coming?"

"One of us may not be- _hey."_

_

* * *

_

"Ignore him," Rinoa said on the ride to the ground floor. "He's a great guy but he's still a kid in some ways."

"I resent that."

"Quiet you."

"Sorry."

Siren smiled. "It's fine Irvine, I still enjoy your company."

They stepped out of the elevator to see Quistis and Zell waiting. Siren drew some stares as she walked through the hotel lobby, but none more shocked than Quistis'. "You look amazing," she finally managed. Siren beamed.

"So where are you guys headed?" Selphie said.

Zell: "Dojo."

Selphie, grabbing Irvine's hand: "We're going to visit the Lunar Cannon!"

Quistis."Going to show Siren the sights from the ground floor."

Rinoa, standing next to Squall: "Just going to…walk around."

Squall coughed politely. "We've got a couple of days before Loire wants us back." He looked at Rinoa, then back at the group. "Until then, in my position as Commander of Balamb Garden SeeD, I order you to relax, and have a little fun."

"Yes _sir!_"

* * *

"You do look amazing."

Siren stared out at the vista, the annoyance of Esthar forgotten. Her hands smoothed over her new dress. "I love it. It makes me feel more…human."

They had the room mostly to themselves. After wandering around in a daze for several hours Quistis had quietly asked a citizen for the highest public point of Esthar City, and then had taken them there. "And is that what you want?"

Siren spun around to face Quistis and whispered; "Yes. Everything here is so much _more_ than at my home." She ran a hand along the metal guardrail. "So much more real. Permanent. Nothing like the city."

"Olesia." Quistis whispered the name wistfully.

The memory arose again, so strong and powerful Siren was momentarily lost in it. Months ago, before this horrible war.

"_It sounds so beautiful. Will you take me there someday?"_

"_It doesn't exist. It's like shadows; it disappears and moves when the light touches it. Humans are like the light, it would burn away before you like ash."_

"_You exist. Your friends exist. Am I burning you now?"_

"_We're...different. We're a part of the city but our origins are more…" She had stopped and shook her head. "We just _are_. That's why we come down here, I think. We're all just looking for something more than what the city can offer us."_

"_I want to know everything. Tell me more."_

_And she had._

Siren shivered. The word on Quistis' lips made her feel things deep inside she hadn't known she was capable of. The giving of the name had been her final surrender after two glorious, unbelievable years, the consummation and recognisance that a part of her was now forever tied to this world. To her.

A death sentence, if the Dragon should ever discover her crime, how deeply she had betrayed her people. But as the days had gone by she had found herself caring less and less.

_This is my home now. _

* * *

"You're thinking about something again. I can always tell because you remind me of you, waaaay back then." She skipped ahead of Squall as they walked and turned to stop him. "What are you thinking about?"

Squall shrugged and sighed. "Just thinking about how we got here."

"How so?"

He couldn't resist those eyes. That faint smile that always said _I know what you're thinking._ "It all seems so ridiculous. One person dies and now the world's at war."

"Almas?"

"It all just seems so…petty."

Rinoa sighed. "Squall, you don't understand leaders."

"Hey, I-"

She put a finger to her lips. "Shush now, teacher is talking." She tried to do her best Quistis impression. "It wasn't about her, or about finding a _good_ excuse to start stomping around the world again. Any excuse would have done. I bet you all the money you make this year as a SeeD that if you hadn't gone to Deling, Galbadia would have found an excuse anyway. I know one thing Squall, growing up in that house, all those great military men visiting my father all those years; power seeks power. Always. Of all that man taught me I have _that_ burned into my brain."

"You know one other thing," Squall said.

"What?"

"You have me."

Rinoa could have burst from happiness. "I do know that."

They walked through the arcade, ignoring the whispers. In this peaceful city, ruled by technology, it was easy to forget that war raged a continent away. Each was the whole world to the other. That was all they needed.

* * *

"_WHAT?"_

"_I SAID, ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?"_

Irvine didn't even try to respond, instead waiting for the ear-splitting noise to die down. And then several minutes more before his ears stopped ringing.

To Selphie, he may as well have been somewhere else entirely. She looked like she was almost ready to topple over the safety railings as she strained to get a closer look at the massive Lunar Cannon.

"We _have _to go up there someday Irvine." Her jealously was almost physical. "After this mess is over."

He grinned. "I'll pay for the tickets."

"All the way to the moon…" Selphie whispered, without seeming to realise she had.

Irvine knew Selphie would never really be his. There was a powerful wanderlust in the small girl that ruled her, could drive her on past any point he could follow, as if her small body could barely contain the energy she had, the energy to _go_. He knew for as long as they were together there would always be that part of her that he could never truly replace with himself.

But hell, he was happy if he got to tag along.

He realised a faint vibration wasn't coming from the cannon, but from his own pocket, and flipped open his comms. "Kinneas."

"_Irvine."_

Huh. "Nida? What's up?" Inwardly he sighed. There was really no other reason for the XO to get in contact with him, but he always lived in hope.

"_Trouble."_

Small hope.

* * *

"Gone?"

Rinoa looked across at Squall in puzzlement, and he mouthed_ Nida_ to her. "Are you sure?"

_What now?_ she mouthed in return.

"We'll deal with it when we get back." He put his communicator back in his pocket.

"What is it?"

Squall sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "It seems Instructor Kayes has vanished from Garden. Nida only realised it when he announced the shift-changes and he didn't turn up."

"So he's asleep or something?"

Squall shook his head. "No, Kayes doesn't turn up late for anything if he could help it, he always did like a spotless record. Nida sent a cadet to search for the man and came up with nothing. His last class was a week or so ago, so we have no idea when he could have left."

A thought sprang to Rinoa's mind instantly. "Doesn't that mean-"

Squall nodded. "Diablos is also missing. Shiva says he hasn't returned 'home', whatever that means, and nobody's seen him prowling around Garden. Kayes was his last junction."

"I don't like that," Rinoa said instantly.

"He always was an opportunist, but he was a good instructor." Rinoa kept quiet. She had her own thoughts on how good an instructor Duo Kayes had been. Squall shrugged. "Nothing we can really do about it. If he got cold feet and decided to take his chances elsewhere he could be anywhere in the world by now." Squall grabbed Rinoa's hand. "Let's not talk about things we can't change."

* * *

"It's a beautiful city."

"Yes, sir."

"The wave of the future they say."

"Yes sir."

"Are you humouring me, Nida?"

"No sir."

"Leave the poor boy alone Cid."

Nida glanced over at Shiva and gave a silent prayer that everyone would just get the hell off his bridge.

"You don't seem worried Cid," Shiva said.

"I'm not," Cid Kramer replied. He raised a hand before Shiva could object. "I don't think we have anything to fear from one man and one Guardian, no matter how twisted."

Shiva shook her head, but it was Nida who spoke up. "I disagree. Sir."

"Oh?" Cid gave a warm smile. "Go on."

The SeeD navigator clearly hadn't meant to say anything aloud. Nida's mind worked furiously. "Err…yessir. Between Kayes' knowledge of the Garden and, and if we can assume Diablos was in a…err…comparable position…?"

Shiva nodded. "He was never a leader in the same way as me or Leviathan, but yes, his knowledge and expertise in battle and assas- in tactics is extensive, and he always did hunger for power in his own way. If he has decided to defect he knows enough to know too much."

_And do you realise what you gave away there, dear lady?_ Cid thought.

"Then it looks like the best of best worlds. For them I mean. Not for us. I'd think he'd run for Galbadia as fast as he could, if he thought there was a serious chance we'd lose. They would be his best bet, assuming he could talk fast enough to not be shot on sight. They're both probably thinking they can get into a good position after Galbadia destroys us."

"A miscalcuation they will both pay for," Shiva said cooly.

Cid smiled indulgently. _You're going to be Headmaster one day, Nida._ He was an old man, and wanted nothing more than to hand off the reigns of Garden to a suitable hand and live out his days with his wife. Edea was even now waiting for him in Centra, at the old Orphanage he'd spent his life building. SeeD's job had been fulfilled, the causality loop that had haunted its existence closed and nullified with the end of the Second Sorceress War. Let the young fight this battle.

"Penny for your thoughts, old friend?" Shiva said.

"I'm thinking about a field of flowers," he replied. "And the ocean."

"Oh?"

* * *

The days passed in a blur, far too fast for the young adults who walked the city, the shadow of war hanging over them. Images and snapshots of memory that would be recalled in the future, after the end came and went.

Rinoa and Squall on the salt plains of Esthar, white sand stretching away to the horizon, infinity on a flat plain, two souls fitting together perfectly like smooth glass.

Zell Dincht, sitting in the dojo, calm enveloping him like a robe, surrounded by Esthar soldiery, an island of perfect martial calm in a sea of conflict.

Selphie in the Esthar Clockworks, running through the massive steel carapace of the partially-built airship saying _this will be mine_, Irvine following in wonderment, a future promise of frontiers to explore.

Quistis and Siren walking through the city, hearts and hands locked together as if contact could ward off the current of the ocean, love that crosses the line of reality itself.

But war smashes through all obstacles and intrudes into the farthest reaches of the world, breaking all dams and threatening to tear apart in a tide of blood and fire. Images on a screen, Galbadian troops standing in the square of Balamb Town, two figures in red and black recorded in split-second glimpses walking through smoke and the bodies of those who had been brave enough to make their stand alone, while Garden hides cocooned in the shadow of technology.

Three days after their arrival, Laguna calls.


	14. Be My Enemy

"I suppose you're wondering why I gathered you all here. What, not even one laugh? Ah well."

Laguna looked old. The president of Esthar clearly hadn't been sleeping properly for several days, and it showed.

"We all have things we need to say so I'll forestall any arguments by going first." He smiled. "Anyone can interrupt, if you're big enough to stop me." A fingerclick, and the floor of the room sprang to life with light and holograms of a map of the world. "First; defence. The good news is we're not physically in a bad position. Galbadian forces hold the western continent but they can't really _do _anything to get at us. Any approach to Esthar _has_ to be across the salt plains on the western coast after an ocean voyage or from the north over the Trabia tundra. Kiros?"

The black man nodded. "Galbadian troops have zero experience outside of their own areas, and we have guerrilla teams posted across the entire western wastes. If they try it and we can pick them apart over hundreds of miles of nothing. Trabia has the Garden-"

"We'll definitely help," Selphie said.

"-And I don't think even Caraway's crazy generals would try and get into the country via endless tundra and ice."

Laguna: "Offensively we can handle absolutely anything they try and throw at us. The _Ragnarok_ is fully repaired and Odine assures us the _Fimblwinter _and _Midgard _will be operational within the month. Galbadia has nothing comparable."

"So we're safe, is what you're saying?" Zell asked. "We can just sit here and castle up until they get bored and go home? What about everyone back at Balamb? And Dollet and Winhill and all those other towns?"

Laguna frowned and coughed politely. "That's where the bad news comes in I'm afraid. Also unfortunately where I must look over to my left here…"

Shiva sighed inwardly. _Well, I knew this day would come._ Ever since the first blow had been struck back at Dollet and Bahamut had given his final word she had dreaded it's coming.

"Yes. Squall, Loire, everyone, it's time for you to learn some things…"

* * *

She spoke, the words rolling out of her like a dam had been broken and they could do nothing but listen in shock as ancient knowledge unfolded before them and showed them exactly how much they did not know.

Man was not the first to claim the earth.

There had been another, before the city-states of the present, before the ancient Centra had built their majestic structures and then gone to ruin and myth, before first empires or republics. Another sentient race who strode the planet.

Man was not the ruler of the world. They were merely it's co-inhabitants.

* * *

Squall looked across at Laguna accusingly. "You knew."

The president nodded. "We suspected. Digs in the salt plains, down past the bedrock. We knew there was probably something down there man-made, or at least not naturally formed. We have labs working on stuff we've dug up, Kiros can tell you more. Later."

Rinoa looked with pleading eyes at Shiva. "I don't understand. You're saying there were people from another planet here before us?"

Shiva shook her head. "No, not a different planet. They were children of the earth as much as you are. They were just not the same species. More monster than intelligent life." And oh how the lie hurt when told to her closest mortal friends. But she couldn't tell them. She couldn't.

"What happened to them?" Quistis asked quietly.

"War, of course. War to decide the future of the planet. War to the end." She shrugged. "You won."

Zell shook his head. "Wait, wait a minute, you mean like in the Book of Hyne?" He noticed the looks he got for that. "What? I've read it. I'm not devout or anything. These things just stick in your head."

Shiva nodded. "I've seen the story in your religious texts. It's accurate, if a little allegorical. Humanity and Guardians fought with Espers to decide which species would inherit the earth. The Espers and their race lost, and we sealed the Espers inside their home while humanity took care of their competitors."

"_And all the angels of the host fought for the souls of the righteous, and cast down the demons and their vassals into the blackness of the world, to suffer in darkness until the final day."_ Kiros said quietly.

Laguna spoke up. "And this is where our current situation gets messy."

"You're not saying…"

Kiros nodded and turned as a screen slid silently into place. "This is the last transmission of one of our patrol-boats on the western shore."

* * *

_The ocean swells and rolls around the small craft as it is assaulted. The surface of the water does not act as water should. Where the waves would break harmlessly around the ship they seem to twist in midair and deluge the deck. Droplets of water turn solid in the air and fall faster than seems possible, leaving marks in the deck and bruises on skin._

_The crew run to and fro securing equipment, trying desperately to bring their small boat under control, but they cannot. Their feet slide on surfaces suddenly turned to ice and the waves smash upon with needles of liquid that shatter against them and leave them bleeding on the floors. Then they see it._

_A grotesque shape rises and arrows through the air sinuously like a snake. A barbed and scrimshawed tail leads up to a humanlike torso, intricately decorated arms go to hands gripping a giant halberd, swinging it through the air like a baton and the water follows its command. Impaled in the centre of the beast is a blindfolded woman, skin faded and blue, hands bound above like a sacrifice to some eldritch god._

_The rest is noise and carnage, and finally the ship is no more._

* * *

Shiva found she could only manage a whisper. "Where?"

Laguna answers as the light returns to the room and the screen slides away to reveal the window again. Selphie and Quistis look pale. Squall and Irvine seem merely resigned. "Sightings alone the coast show this…thing…moving back and forth in the coast."

Squall spoke up first. "It's a patrol."

"More of an interdiction," Kiros said. "We sent out a cruiser to destroy whatever it was. It never returned. Nothing can get past that thing."

"They are like us," Shiva said. "They are our shadows."

Quistis is the first to grasp what she means. "They're Guardians. Guardians for whatever was here alongside humanity."

"Don't call them that," Shiva says quickly. "They're guardians of _nothing_. They just…destroy." She shook her head. "We are all threatened by them. Our…home… is also under siege by these things." She tried to find the words to make them understand while revealing as little as possible. "These Espers live in a similar place to us. The barrier between their home and ours is not as strong as the one between theirs and the physical world. It _was_ better guarded, however. Until now."

"Cerberus," Zell said.

"Exactly. Much of his power went towards maintaining the wall - I suppose you'd call it - between _their_ home and the Guardian world. With him dead that wall is thinner. There have been incursions already. It is no longer safe for our kind to travel freely." She spread her hands. "It takes power to move between the worlds, power we can ill afford to spend if we should meet one of the Espers while travelling."

"In other words," Irvine said, "You're stuck here."

"And what about those two people?" Squall asked. "We've fought them in Dollet, they seem to keep popping up, and they damn well have something to do with your 'Espers'."

"We've got their names," Kiros said. "Intercepted communications and scout cameras before they were destroyed. Melanthios and Tisiphone. The woman appears to be almost immune to physical death and has the ability to regenerate any damage we can dish out. She's also ridiculously strong, she has already accounted for one Guardian as you all know (sorry Shiva). The man seems to have control over some force we can't even begin to identify. People just seem to disappear around him and we can't figure out how or why. They're almost always followed around by one or more Esper, and _nothing_ we can do can touch those things. The names-"

"They're Centran names." Quistis said quietly. "Black flower and vengeful murder." She looked across at Shiva. "Is that what this is: Vengeance?"

Shiva nodded. "They are worldshells. Artificial beings. Anchors acting to keep the Espers in the physical plane, in the same way we junction to humans. I don't know how, but the Espers have created these two links to the Earth and imbued them with some of their power. They have found a way out of their prison. They want to fight the war again. And win."

* * *

"_You Cannot Return."_

_She bristles at the command, but the great dragon goes on._

"_You Are At The Pivot In This Conflict. You Must Make Them See This Is No Mere Squabble Over Such Petty Concepts As Land Or Status. This Is A Fight For The Very Soul Of The World."_

_She knows, of course. She will do what he asks. What he orders. She has been the good soldier all these years and will continue to be so. What else does she have?_

"_They Will Not Stop At Humanity. Our Walls Lie Breached. Their Leader Was Always An Arrogant Sore Loser. They Will Not Hesitate Or Show Mercy."_

_She makes no comparison. Not out loud anyway._

"_They Will Kill Us All And Salt The Earth Where We Lie, Shiva."_

* * *

"So, ze past reaches out to destroy ze future?"

All heads turned as Odine strode into the room. The little man was almost vibrating with indignation.

Laguna sighed. "Doctor, can we really not do this now-"

Odine pointed a finger accusingly at Shiva. "Vhat else to expect from such arrogance? To annihilate ze potencial partners of humanity and think nozzing vhould ever come back to bite zem in zer pretty behindz."

Shiva's eyes narrow dangerously. "They were never your partners. Only your competitors."

"Hah! Ve never gave zem ze chance to show uz ozzerwise!"

Kiros spoke up. "Doctor, while we're all _very_ interested in what you have to say, perhaps after the council is over you can make your theories-"

"I vhill speak!" He didn't move his accusatory finger from Shiva. "Your kind lurks in ze wallz of reality like a plague and attemptz to control us with pretty lightshows and magiks. Now your past failure to finish ze job has rizen to make war again, and all your sinz have been remembered!"

Zell almost jumped to his feet. "There's no way Caraway knows all this! Can't we just _tell him_ who he's dealing with? He's crazy but he's not _crazy._"

Laguna shrugged. "How would we do that? We have no way of getting through to him. Radio and electrical transmissions are down since they took the Dollet tower. We can't just fly the Ragnarok over Deling holding a big sign. Their anti-air cover is superb, and even if we could scramble it long enough, they have Espers that can reach up and swat us like bugs."

"Vonce again ze forces of magik hold zway over ze lowly humanz. Vhe sell our souls for power because vhe are too lazy to grasp it vhith our own hands."

Shiva looked across at Laguna. "With all respect to our brilliant and dedicated doctor, I will not listen to this insulting nonsense for much longer."

Laguna nodded. "Go back to your labs, doctor. If you have anything for us, call _first._ Go check on the g- on your projects." He glanced across the room, hoping that nobody else had caught his slip. Unfortunately for him the room was full of supernaturally alert and trained soldiers.

"President Loire?" Shiva asked sweetly.

Laguna sighed. "Fine, you caught me, but not now okay? Kiros; summary please."

Kiros motioned again at the map that circled slowly above them. "We're facing a normal infantry- and mechanised-based army, backed up with an overwhelming magical force. Right now that force is busy pacifying resistance on the other side of the world, while one or two of their Espers are keeping us from making any expeditions outside the country."

"If what Shiva says is correct we are facing an enemy within the enemy. Galbadia will clean up and conquer Esthar, and then the Espers will sterilise humanity to the bedrock, and there's very little we can do about it." He looked across at Shiva. "Forgive me lady, it seems that Odine is right."

"I am alvays right." He raised a finger. "But ze mind of man vhill not be defeated by your pixie-dust warriors." A huge smile appeared on the small man. "Come to ze lab vhen you are done!"

"I, Odine, ze greates man in ze world, will yet save us all!"

* * *

The council had broken up. Only Laguna, Squall and Shiva were left in the conference chamber.

"You never told us any of this," Squall said.

"It would not have occurred to me to do so," Shiva replied. "It was never an issue."

"Sorry lady but I have to agree with Leonhart here", Laguna said. "You never thought this would come up?"

Shiva spread her hands in a gesture of supplication. "Truthfully I never expected it to. They have been dead and gone for millennia, before the Centrans, before _anyone_."

"But you knew the Espers were there, behind your barriers" Squall said.

"Surely there were warning signs your 'wall' was breaking down?" Laguna said. "I know Guardians, and I know anything you do is pretty heavy-duty. Damn, just look at Dollet when you and Ifrit were fighting. I saw the pictures; they needed to run flamethrowers over your handiwork to thaw it out. You're telling me any really serious barricades you set up _wouldn't_ last until the end of time?"

_Careful_, Shiva told herself, _you tread a dangerous path._ "Truthfully, we simply didn't realise. We thought our safeguards would hold."

"Were you a part of it?" Squall again, ever the military man.

Shiva nodded. "I headed the 'project'. We were going to simply annihilate them but-" she stopped, and Laguna finished for her:

"But you preferred containment to extermination."

"We were following orders, Squall."

"Bahamut's orders," Squall said. It wasn't a question.

"A soldier obeys their commanding officer, do they not?" Shiva stood. "I will return to the Garden. The air here is not healthy. Excuse me."

Squall watched her leave and turned to Laguna. "Did you catch that? 'Only following orders'?"

"Yep," Laguna said. He looked thoughtful. "You know Bahamut better than me of course."

Squall considered that a dubious honour. "Yes."

"Can you imagine that giant lizard showing mercy, to _anyone_?"

"We're not being told the whole story here."

* * *

The lab was chaotic. Papers and printouts were strewn across every flat surface not taken up with computing equipment, and technicians strode around the room handing papers to other technicians, disappearing and reappearing into one of the half-dozen corridors set into the wall. This was the madness that greeted Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, Siren, Rinoa and Odine as they entered. Selphie was captivated immediately.

"It's _beautiful!"_

Odine preened as Selphie stared at the small-scale model that lay haphazardly on top of a bench. It was an airship, but nothing like the _Ragnarok_ they knew so well. If the notations on the side were correct this beast was _massive, _its engines alone practically dwarfing the smaller craft. "Ze _Jormundgar_ vill be ze first airship capable of powered flight and human conveyance between celestial bodies, not merely ze paltry exospheric and temporary flight of ze _Ragnarok_. A true _star_ship."

"But where will it _go? _There's nothing on the moon except monsters," Selphie said.

Odine wagged a finger, clearly thrilled to have a willing (or at least captive) audience. "Who knows? Ve are mapping ze stars my dear girl. Ze ozzer planets? Maybe vhe vhill find a second Earth, with ozzer peoples." He shot a glance at Siren, who looked embarrassed, and then swept his hands to encompass the chaos. "Zis room iz where miracles happen by the hand of humanity. Zere iz nothing we will not do, given ze time."

_Time to bring this excursion back to the ground_, Irvine thought. "That's all well and good doctor but we'd have to be _alive_ to go to those 'other' planets of yours. Let's find a way to defeat the Espers first, huh?"

"A trifle. Ze matter iz in hand. Here, an example," Odine said, picking up what looked like a fist-sized sphere of metal, and threw it at Siren, who caught it. The effect was immediate.

Siren shook her head. "I don't feel so…" She didn't make it any further. She collapsed to her knees as the colour and light seemed to be sucked out of her. She looked up, gasping for air, and her eyes hadturned slate-grey. After no more than five seconds holding the dark metal she looked like a ghost about to blow away with the wind.

"_SIREN!_" Selphie and Quistis screamed at once in unison. Selphie was faster, wrenching the ball from Siren's hands and throwing it as hard as she could away from the group, where it bounced off a table and hit a technician in the chest, knocking him out. Nobody cared.

Before the shock had faded from Rinoa's eyes Zell was already moving, grabbing Odine by his lapels and hauling him up to eye level. "What the _hell_ was that for!"

Odine's shoulders moved trying to form a shrug while held in mid-air. "You wished to zee ze planz we have. Ze test subject vas zimply too good to pass up."

Quistis looked up from comforting Siren and her voice was as cold as the grave. "If you do anything like that again I will kill you."

Odine whistled and one of the anonymous science techs gently handed him the sphere. "You have encountered a zimilar material before," he began, as if absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He pointed at Rinoa. "Mizz Heartilly, you remember ze Sorceress Adel, and ze Odine bangles (named after me, of course)?"

Rinoa nodded warily. "I do." The name carried a bad memory, her first encounter with the Sorceress Edea, all those years ago. The plan had seemed so simple: Get to Edea. Put bangle on Edea. Save world. Oh, the confidence of youth.

Odine bashed the metal against a desk. Irvine noted with interest how the other technicians seemed to flinch when he did. "Ze theory is similar. Ze Odine bracelets suppressed ze Sorzorezz powers by creating a field in which prana particles could not flow. You can have no magik reaction without prana. Ergo; no magik nasties." He tossed the sphere idly from one hand to another. A technician fainted. _"Zis_ material works by reacting violently with prana and turning it into harmless inert matter. Ze magik iz not merely _suppressed,_ it is _destroyed entirely._"

Irvine grasped it immediately. "It eats magic." _My God._

Odine clapped his hands. "Exactly, my dear boy! Zis metal vhill see your little ghoulies avay no problemz!"

"But this is fantastic!" Zell said. "We can turn this stuff into weaponry and smash those bastards so hard they'll never know what hit them. How much of it do you have?"

"I have three spherez of zis size," Odine said, tossing it like a beach ball. Irvine really wished he'd stop.

Rinoa already felt a sinking feeling coming on that Laguna would have recognised instantly. "Doctor, how much time did it take to create these three spheres?"

"Five years."

* * *

"I just want you to know I'm sorry about this," Kiros was saying. He had grabbed Squall away from the rest of the group and now the two men were in an entirely different part of the laboratory.

"About what?"

"We've not been entirely idle while this has been going on. We've had agents in Galbadia and other city-states since Tisiphone first made her appearance and Caraway started gearing up for war."

Many years ago Squall might have been angry at this revelation, but the day had been filled with so many he just felt tired, and wanted nothing more than to find Rinoa and collapse into his bed back at Garden.

Kiros went on: "One in particular has had more success than the rest. He had a hunch – well, a series of hunches really – and found out something unusual you're really going to want to see."

"What?"

"Nuh-uh. Just see for yourself." The door slid open.

Squall's combat instincts lit up as something small and hard hurtled towards him with blazing speed. He was already dodging left, reaching for his weapon he wasn't armed and thinking _I was_ _too slow_ when it hit him in the chest and sent him back several metres.

"SqUaLl!"

It took him a second, and then: "_Carbuncle?"_

The small Guardian was ecstatic. "SqUaLl! I'm So GlAd To SeE YoU!" The words tumbled out of the green furry body. "AfTeR iFrIt ThReW mE AwAy I DiDn'T kNoW wHaT tO dO bUt ThEn Mr. KiRoS' fRiEnD fOuNd Me AnD bRoUgHt Me HeRe AnD wE hAd To CrOsS tHe GiIiIiAnT bRiDgE tO aVoId AlL tHe BaD gUyS oH jEeZ I HoPe EvErYonE iS oKaY."

"Slow down Carbuncle," Squall said. He glanced at Kiros. "Your 'friend'?"

"YeS!" Carbuncle said, and then used a paw to point into the room he had barrelled out of. "He'S oVeR tHeRe. HiM aNd ThE nIcE gIrL hAvE bEeN hElPiNg Me GeT bAcK tO gArDeN."

Squall looked up at the other two people in the room, and froze. He simply couldn't move. Two faces stared back at him. One looking worried, nervously shuffling from foot to foot as if not knowing what to do with herself. Any shock or emotion he would have had at seeing Almas Jordin alive and well though was curtailed and wiped away by the second person.

A face he hadn't seen in years. Would quite happily have gone the rest of his life without seeing ever again. The man stood there staring back with a challenge in his eyes.

"Squall. Been a while."

Nothing changes. Still the same _god damn_ voice, as if it's owner is making some huge largess merely talking to anyone else. Daring the world itself to wipe the smile from his face. And it is all Squall Leonhart can do to reply:

"Seifer. Not long enough."

* * *

"Five. _Years?_"

Odine shrugs. "Great science, like great art, takez time."

Irvine looked morosely at the small sphere, and all it represented. It might be re-forged into a sword. One sword. "There's no way to get more in a hurry?"

Odine chuckled. "It haz taken all of my intellect, most of the hardware in ze country, and several of my techz to make _zis_ much in so short a time. Ze refinery procezzes alone were-" but everyone had already tuned him out.

"Then we're screwed," Zell said.

Instantly Odine was stood next to the man and jabbing a finger in his chest. "_Screwed?_ Ze great Odine is _never_ 'screwed'!" He waved his hands like a conductor. "Zis iz merely ze first step! Zis iz your hope!" He made pushing motions at them. "You play at your game of soldierz and let Odine figure out ze important things! Go, go!" With that, he turned back to his desk as the door slid shut. Alone with his science at last. Now maybe he could get some _real_ work done.

"He's crazy," Zell said as they walked back to the entrance of the massive lab complex. "We'd need tons of that stuff to outfit an army."

"Not so much, if we wanted it just for us," Selphie mused. The others looked at her quizzically. "Well I mean come on; who else are they going to send against these things? Give us a weapon each made of that stuff and we can take 'em!"

"That's not it Sephy," Irvine said. "We don't know how many of these Esper things there are. Who knows, if we manage to kill one maybe they'll send the rest all at once. We can't afford to wander the world taking them on one at a time."

Rinoa felt frustrated. "There must be something we can do."

"As much as his personality and sartorial taste offends me I will say it: Trust the little man," Irvine said.

"I don't trust him as far as I can throw him after what he did to Siren," Rinoa said. She frowned as she realised something that had been nagging her since they'd left. "Actually wait, where is-"

* * *

"Vhat to you vant?" Odine said. He did not turn away from his work.

"Why do you hate us so much?" Siren asked quietly. Quistis stood to her side, staying with her after Siren had not left with the others. Both women looked unsure.

"Vhy does an ant hate the magnifying glass zat burns it?"

"I don't understand. Please, doctor. Just tell me why."

Odine's chair swivelled around, and Quistis saw how tired the small man looked, away from his audience, when the curtain dropped. "Because you have ruined us."

"I never meant to," Siren whispered.

"You have handed us magik and said 'see now, little humanz, ze pretty lights zat will keep you warm? vhat need to make your own fire vhen vhe can do it for you'?"

"That's not fair doctor," Quistis said. She noticed Odine's accent seemed to have lessened since the others had left. Exhaustion maybe?

"You have seduced humanity into taking ze easy way. Ze Centrans strode the world like gods in zher shelters. Mobile cities and castles in ze sky. In ze years since ze Sorcerezz Wars ended we are no clozer to matching zher brilliance," Odine said. "Humanity has said; 'why bother? magic will take care of us, what need do we have of gleaming machinery of our own design when light and power and security are provided to us and all we need do is wave our hands around'." He jabbed a finger angrily at Siren. "Ze Guardians have diverted us from ze golden path we were destined for. Only Esthar remains. Only _Odine_ remains pure. All else is happy to wallow in ze muck, when zhey should be reaching for ze stars!"

"I'm sorry," Siren whispered, and there was real pain in her eyes.

"You seem like a nice young lady but you are not real," Odine said. "Go back to your magical world, vherever and vhatever zat is. Zher is nozzing for you here."

"You're wrong."

Odine raised an eyebrow as Quistis put a hand around Siren's waist, staring at him as if daring him to comment. But for all his faults, lack of courage had never been one of them. "Oh? You think zhere is something…_lovable_…in zis magical shell shaped like a person, zhat rises forth from ze prana of ze world? That zhere is something to cherish in zhese gatherings of shadows in ze light?"

"I do."

"And you, little pixie? You love zis creature of meat and water, so much more mortal and _real_ zhan yourself? Vhould you give up your eternity to stay with her? Vhen she is an old maid and you, you will be the same, an unchanging nothing in ze world of man. You promise to stay with her even zhen?"

"I do."

Odine gave a small smile. "Zhen I hereby pronounce you blessed, dear ladies. Maybe zhere is help for some of you. Go now. I must save ze world. Of course I must, for who else can?"

"Work fast, doctor, we have little time, and strong enemies," Quistis said as she led Siren out.

"Ah, my dear. Give me some time and I vhill have zis problem of quantity sorted and you may sveep away zese Espers like chaff on ze breeze. Give me time and I vhill build machines to strike ze fear of God herself into ze hearts of ze Galbadians. Give me time and I vhill drag humanity out of superstition and back into ze light of science."

"Give Odine time and he will move ze stars zhemselves!"


	15. Be My Ally

"It's been an unbelievable day."

Squall Leonhart looked out at the Esthar horizon. He could feel Rinoa's presence at his back.

"It must have been a shock," she said.

"I could have killed Kiros for springing that on me. Then _he _started talking. I thought I'd heard it all but people just keep thinking up new ways to shock me."

Rinoa put an arm around his waist. "Tell me about it."

* * *

_Squall turned to Kiros. "Is this a joke?"_

"_What, he didn't tell you?" Seifer said._

_Squall turned to Seifer and shook a finger at him. He couldn't find any words. Almas was looking nervously between the three men. "You just stay right there, I'll deal with you in a minute."_

"_I'm not going anywhere."_

_Kiros was unrepentant. "He's working for us, Squall. Consider it penance, or punishment, or whatever you want, but he's ridiculously good _as you well know_ and we needed every hand we could get inside Galbadia."_

_He gave up. "Fine. I won't even ask." He looked back at Seifer. "And _you_, don't think anything you've done here can make up for what you did."_

_And was that a hint of reflection, or maybe even sadness, on Seifer's face? If it was it only lasted a millisecond. "I won't argue with you there. But we have bigger things to worry about. Maybe you noticed? But lucky for you _commander_, I have a story to tell."_

_Squall sat down in the chair Kiros offered as the door slid shut. The lab was empty besides a small bed and a window looking out towards Tear's Point. "Make a start."_

* * *

It is over two years ago and Seifer Almasy is staring up at Kiros Seagill as the man talks at him. He's not chained up, or even in a prison. He's sitting on the pier of Balamb Town, just two men talking about the weather. But the chains are there nevertheless. How could they not be? _It's time to start paying it back Almasy._

Mere weeks later and he's walking through Deling City at night, his long jacket and pseudo-SeeD regalia replaced with a tattered bomber jacket and Galbadian uniform. He looks like any of a thousand off-duty army soldiers. He spends the next week drinking in bars and walking the streets, sieving the city for information.

"_Where are the Fujin and Raijin? Thought you three were still inseparable."_

"_Not my proudest moment. I snuck out on them. My penance, not theirs."_

He's there when the first rumours start circulating the drinking-holes of the army. The bars are emptier than they were. Soldiers recalled to their posts for 'training and familiarisation'. Familiarisation with what nobody seems to know. He's there in the background when the atmosphere turns nasty and nationalistic again. He's there when _she_ appears.

_Squall frowns. "Not the man? From what we've seen he's definitely the brains of the outfit."_

_Seifer shakes his head. "No, the woman came first. Quite a sight apparently. That was when it all started of course, the rest of it was just 'we wuz robbed' __garbage and old drunken veterans. The man came later, when the ball was already rolling. He just greased the skids."_

He's there when the recruiters come around. He flashes his (stolen) infantry patch at them and they turn away to the rest of the gathering in the square. It's mostly young men at this point. Angry young men. The message is simple and to the point. _The Army Needs YOU!_ Of course nobody asks why.

"_I'm surprised you weren't recognised."_

"_They were taking pretty much everyone they could at that point. Plus I'd developed quite the beard. Instructor Trepe would no doubt have had words to say about that. That takes us up to about a year and a half ago. Then things _really_ took off."_

* * *

He'd managed to weasel his way into a platoon, a story about stolen and lost paperwork accounting for why he just turned up one day. Nobody really checked on a lowly corporal that hard. He did the work, made the friends in the squad (_That must have been a bore,_ Squall said. _You have no idea,_ was the reply) and paid his dues.

"I tell you what though; those SeeD bastards are going to wake up one day with a big surprise jammed up their asses."

Seifer looked up sleepily at the man, drinking in every word. "What, those kids past the mountain? Aren't they ours?"

The loud and angry squaddie shakes his head. "Nonono, I mean those Balamb wusses and their giant flower-garden. Hide on an island halfway around the world and act like king-shits."

"Whaddaya gonna do?" a much more drunken member of the team asked. Seifer hadn't bothered to memorise his name, figuring (rightly) anyone stupid enough to get so drunk with guard-duty in the morning wouldn't be able to remember anything worthwhile. "They got…gotta oca…an oceo…a big goddamn sea over there."

The worldlier and more sober soldier has the effrontery to look smug. "Caraway's got plans. You mark my words." He leans closer in and the others follow suit. "You seen that babe they got hanging around the mansion?"

Seifer has, but only by hearsay. Caraway isn't known for sexual dalliances. She interests him. "What, Fury got a new girlfriend or something?" _Hyne please tell me I was never this stupid when I was a SeeD cadet._ Cadet. Even all these years later the word still stung.

"Naw. She's some kind of snake, that woman. Has plans, and the Sec-Gen's listenin' to 'em. I've heard things when I was guarding the doors in that mansion, kid. Secret plans and stuff."

Seifer risks a snort of derision. It comes easily. "Sure, one chick is going to turn the water to ice and we're going to walk across the water and kick Garden in the backside."

The sergeant's smile is insult-proof though. "Hey, you never know."

"Well good for her. Teach those brats a lesson they won't forget," Seifer said. He sips his beer while his mind whirs. He has to get to that mansion.

_Squall finds himself smiling slightly. Not at Seifer though. "_Seriously?_ They thought that was going to happen? Only what, three years after the Second Sorceress War?"_

"_It's in their blood, Leonhart. Galbadia's a rabid dog and always has been. You kick it down and it's quiet, but you let that dog get back up and it's going to start barking again real soon."_

* * *

"You."

It's one year ago, six months after his conversation in the bar, and Seifer turns as he hears the voice. More than a command from a superior officer to a junior. A spat insult from a human to something that offends it. He turns and sees Tisiphone stalking towards him and as his eyes meet hers his cynical and arrogant heart almost misses a beat. Almost. "Ma'am?"

She thrusts a thin into his hands. "Take this. Deliver it." She rolls off a destination Seifer recognises as one of Galbadia's very few scientific facilities. "Now."

As he walks through the city he's traipsed and spied and slunk through for a year he takes as many chances to examine the thin sheath as he can. He detours through an ally he's had set up for months now and uses the tools to ease open the envelope to reveal documents. The first page threatens the immediate punishment up to and including death of anyone unauthorised reading it. He ignores this.

"_And?"_

"_Most of it was garbage. _But_ there were some schematics inside. Something to do with Galbadia Garden, that much I could see."_

"_They _were_ raising it from Centra about that time."_

"_I remember the fuss. So proud that they even got the damn thing to cough along back to Galbadia. Idiots. " Seifer shook his head. "No, this was bigger than that. This was some heavy science. There was other stuff in there too, missile plans, something to do with that base you blew the hell out of, a bunch of diagrams of loops and spirals. Odine probably has 'em by now. Anyway-"_

He's greeted by a small haggard-looking man at the lab who takes the documents from him without a word before scurrying back into the windowless building. If he noticed the small crease where Seifer had tampered with it he didn't let on. It took hours to get a message off to Kiros telling him Galbadia are planning something to do with their old destroyed hardware. As usual he hears nothing back. Only; _message received._

The next time he meets Tisiphone is a month after that. He's inside Deling Mansion when he hears the raised voices, and puts on his best disinterested face as she rails at Caraway.

"Don't care…your precious advi…tell you…fer you the world and you…about politics!"

Caraway is clearly much calmer, because Seifer can't hear his reply.

"This offer…good once…ry. Don…spit on your la…chance!"

The door slams open and Tisiphone storms out. She notices him standing guard and whirls to face him, her eyes blazing like miniature suns. "You!" She stalks towards him and Seifer's instincts are urging him to raise his weapon and defend himself, such is the rage he feels emanating from the woman.

He's spared whatever would have come next, however, when the man appears.

"_Melanthios. The quiet one."_

"_What a dumb name," Seifer said. "But yeah, he's the one to watch, I knew that at once. She was angry all the damn time, but I don't think I ever saw him so much as raise his voice."_

"_We know he has some sort of power but even Odine has no idea what."_

_Seifer grinned. "Well, looks like I have one up on you then."_

"_Well?" Squall can see how much Seifer enjoys it, just knowing something that Squall doesn't._

"_It's shadows. He has power over shadows."_

* * *

"It all starts here."

"Sir?" He's playing the loyal, dumb soldier.

Melanthios glanced across at him and saw a corporal in the Galbadian Army. Having identified the voice as no-one important he waves him away. "Nothing."

It's now four months before Squall's visit to Deling to commemorate the re-establishment of G-Garden on Galbadian soil, and Seifer already knows something is being planned. He knows time is running out and decides to take a risk. Luckily the man in black is in the perfect place to give him the excuse.

"Hell of a view sir. Shame about the scar."

They're both looking out onto the Galbadian grass plains. Just visible in the distance is the shallow dusty crater that marks the final resting place of Galbadia's sole experiment with intercontinental missiles.

The man in black smiles. "A shame indeed, but ultimately unimportant, soldier. Galbadia's strength has never lay with the force of their – let's face it – slightly antiquated and creaky technology, but in the dedication and loyalty of its people, wouldn't you agree."

After more than a year and a half of bowing, scraping, information-gathering and general scrabbling for dirt in this cesspit of a country, Seifer is more than a little tempted to tell the man exactly what he thinks of the Galbadian people. "Yessir," he says.

Melanthios turns. "Tell me soldier, what do you think about Garden?"

Seifer shakes his head and spits. "Bunch of kids playing with fire sir. A damn waste of space."

The man smiles. "You're a good Galbadian. Rest assured, without saying too much I believe I can assure you that you'll have your chance."

"_He said that?" Squall said._

"_He did. He liked to gloat in his own intelligence, that smug asshole," Seifer said. He paused for a second. "Of course at that point he had reason to."_

* * *

As he's looking at the screen, one part of Seifer Almasy is angry, one part is slightly horrified. One part however, a part that used to be quite large but has been getting smaller by the week since Kiros contracted him, is gloating at the misfortune of his one-time rival.

_Oh, you magnificent bastards._

Squall Leonhart; murder. Garden assassins and a giant fire demon that Seifer recognises all too well rampaging through Deling City. Seifer can see it's a single street but nobody else in the bar cares, they're too busy staring in shock or working themselves into a righteous anger, and Seifer knows that somewhere, Melanthios is laughing.

Two years since he got to Deling, and it's only two days after the 'assault' on Deling City that the Galbadian Army is mobilising, and the only time Kiros contacts him since his entrance under cover. The message is simple and unambiguous when it comes through on the tiny communicator Seifer has hidden in his room:

_Find out what you can. Get out. Bring it to us._

It's when Seifer is using his invisible status as a Galbadian soldier that he first meets Almas Jordin. He's wandering from room to room checking anything he can see for any information that looks useful. He's already ransacked his squad's base and has moved onto the science labs when he runs into her.

"You."

Melanthios isn't smiling now. He doesn't need to. He grabs Seifer's attention as the soldiers behind him roll out a young woman on a gurney. "Get over here and help with this."

Seifer kept his mouth shut and his ears and eyes open as he helped the team get into an APC. He felt a familiar presence and turned to see Tisiphone walking towards them from the direction of Deling Mansion. He does not react as he notices the massive scars that lead down her face. They don't seem to bother her.

"What the hell is this?"

The man in black smiles. "Indulge me."

The woman won't be dissuaded however. She doesn't seem to realise anyone else is around her. "This is an unacceptable risk. We don't know how she'll react, or how they'll react to her. Your plan is stupid and risky."

The smile isn't on Melanthios' face anymore as he replies: "It is, however, _mine_. Your own confused ramblings aren't my concern."

"_So _that's_ where she was?" Squall said. "All that time we thought she was dead."_

"_Of course I had no idea who the brat was at the time or that she was even SeeD, but I suspected she was _someone_ when the architects of this ridiculous mess had taken the time from an invasion to help move one little girl."_

_Squall shook his head. "And what's this plan?"_

_Kiros spoke up for the first time since Seifer had started talking. "Later, Squall. We're almost done."_

* * *

Seifer has left behind the uniform behind a tree and recovered his coat and weaponry from where he buried it on the outskirts of the city. It feels good to be back in his old clothes and out of that shell he had worn for the last two years. The fruits of those years sat in his head now, and he has a long way to go to deliver them.

He also wants to catch up with the girl. The man's last commend bothers him. Kiros agrees, his last response to Seifer, the last before he left the city for good, was as short and curt as his previous order to escape: _Get the girl._

_Squall sighs. "And that's it?"_

_Seifer leans back and crosses his arms, cocky as ever. "Hell Squall, what more do you want? I met that jumpy little green bastard on the way from Deling to the coast, and I found the brat walking across the ocean railway and convinced her to come here with me. After we stole transport it was simple to get into Esthar and wait for a pickup to here. Quite a ride."_

_Kiros looks down at Squall as he speaks. "He's done a lot for us Squall. Saved Carbuncle from wandering the forests and almost certain capture. Saved your student from- well, from Galbadia." But his tone is hesitant and Squall will argue that point later._

_He's just tired. He doesn't even have any venom in his voice when he talks to Seifer. "I don't know what to think." He stands. "Just give some time."_

"_Work getting on top of you commander?"_

_Okay, maybe he has strength for a little venom. "I had a Garden to run for the last two years, being leader of SeeD and all."_

_Seifer doesn't reply but the point clearly hits home and he stands. "We're done here."_

_Kiros nods. "I agree. It's been a hell of a long day for everyone." He looks at Almas. "Ms Jordin if you would…?" Almas nods._

"_Seifer, Squall, go and get some sleep."_

* * *

"He hasn't changed."

Rinoa shook her head. "No, he has, I think. The personality's still the same but I think the motivations are different."

Squall looked at her in surprise. _You're defending him? You?_ "You can tell?"

"People change Squall. The man spent two _years_ in Galbadia, spying for Esthar. You think he did that just to thumb his nose at you?"

Squall sighed deeply and sunk deeper into his chair. "I can't accept it that easily Rin. I just can't."

Rinoa stood, walked over to Squall and kissed him lightly on the forehead. "I know you can't Squall. There's a lot of history here, for all three of us. Maybe it's time we finally set this whole thing to rest. Squall?"

Squall's eyes were closed and his chest moved in a slow rhythm. He was already asleep. Rinoa huffed. _Fine, but I'm not carrying you to the bed!_

* * *

"I wanted you three here for this."

Squall rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he, Quistis and Shiva faced Laguna as the four of them stood in Odine's 'secret' underground labs. It had taken them three long elevator rides and over fifteen minutes to come down from the surface, and the president of Esthar looked nervous. Whatever it was he had planned it was clear even he was unsure about its volatility.

Doors swung open to reveal cavernous openings in the rock. They must be over a mile underground. The Crystal Pillar had left a big hole in the ground when it had been moved from here and Odine had clearly seen it as his sworn duty to science to fill it.

The final elevator set down with a _thunk_ into the bedrock and discharged its cargo. Odine was already waiting for them at the entrance to the small lab.

"What is this place?" Quistis asked quietly.

"It used to be Adel's private laboratory," Laguna said as Odine fell into step with them as they walked the final corridors to their destination. "If you want my advice don't look too hard through any windows."

"What are you keeping down here doctor?" Squall said.

"Not vhat, but _who," _Odine said. "It appears your little SeeD cadet haz hidden depthz!"

Quistis frowned. "_Jordin_ is down here? Is she okay?" She looked across at Laguna. "What's going on Mr President?"

Laguna had the decency to look ashamed. "Seifer brought her to us in Esthar after he saw our two little hellions taking large amounts of care over her. Turns out Kiros' instincts were correct."

The door swung open to reveal a pristine white room covered in a thin lattice of what looked like metal wiring covering every surface. Furniture was scattered around the room. It looked like Odine had tried to provide some material comforts, but for all that it still looked like a cell.

Odine raised his hands to ward off Squall's anger. "Simply a precaution I assure you. Ze iron simply prevents any tranzmission of information through ze cage in either direction."

Almas Jordin rose as she noticed the group entering. "Sir."

"What is this?" Squall asked. He was tired of mystery. It would be nice if people just _told him_ things.

Laguna waved Odine quiet before the scientist could speak. "We had Odine run some tests while Ms Jordin was recovering from her exertions, and there were some interesting results."

"Explain," Quistis said.

"Ms Almas appearz to be not entirely human!" Odine said.

Squall didn't react. He was beyond it. He looked down at Almas, who was looking up at him nervously. She clearly hadn't heard it much earlier herself, the poor girl was clearly in shock. "What do you mean, doctor?"

"Zere skeleton of zher girl appears to support not only ze traditional flesh and muscle but alzo a thin layer of some sort of magikal alloy I am not familiar vith-"

"I didn't know."

" Vhen ve isolated zer substance during ze medical examz ve saw zat it appears to be self-healing and reinforcing zher body itself. It also appearz to be generating a thin magical field of some sort."

"Like Tisiphone," Squall said. _My god._ _No wonder we're keeping her down here. She could be relaying everything she sees to them, or just waiting for some activation sig-_

"_I DIDN'T KNOW!"_

Squall stepped back at Almas' outburst. The girl looked up at them and in her eyes there was something between fear and indignation. "I didn't know any of this crap until _you people_," here she looked at Laguna, "dragged me down here after that check-up and put me in this room."

"Cadet Jordin…" Quistis began, but was headed off.

"I'm not some spy for that _bitch_ up there." There were tears in her eyes. "You can't keep me down here for something _I didn't even know about!_"

_Just like Seifer. Just like him._ "Jordin…"

"I don't even know what's happening." The anger seemed to leak out of her. "I just want to go home," she whispered.

In another time Squall would have left her there in her misery, ignored her problems as something beyond him. Now, however, he knew a little more about other people, and he had years of familiarity dealing with a similar personality. "So, you're quitting?" Instantly her head snapped back up for her eyes to meet his gaze, and she glared.

"Hey, _you_ don't know what I've been through-"

When he interrupted her there was real anger in his voice. "You've been through _nothing_. I've had friends die while you were running back home. _Your_ friend lost her country and her father. We're in real trouble here kid and we've got no time for this." The fear in her eyes had been replaced with resentment. Good, it was a start at least. "Odine's the smartest man in the world and if says there's something inside you that might be working against us then we're going to listen to him. Use your head; I know we trained you to use at least _some_ of it."

"I…I don't know. It's all too much. How do you people deal with this?"

"You think any of us really _do_ Almas?" Quistis said softly. "You just keep going. Friendship and loyalty will carry you most of the way, remember that."

"We'll be outside," Laguna said. "You two probably have a lot to sort out. Quistis? Shiva?"

Squall found himself alone in the small room with Almas, a girl he'd spent the last month thinking of as dead. It was unnerving, but he found himself at ease in the strange girl's presence. Of all the things that had entered his life since that day in Deling City, being in a fairly comfortable dwelling with a young adult was the least strange one. Have to watch out for that.

"How's Li?" Almas asked quietly.

He didn't bother to cushion the blow. "Crushed. She lost her friend and then her father died and Galbadia made her an exile. She's angry at everything and she doesn't know what to do about it."

"That doesn't sound like Li at all," Almas said.

"She's been through a lot," and he told her about Dollet, and what they'd learned in the last few days in Esthar.

"Those bastards." Almas looked at her own hands as if she'd like to tear them off. She laughed, but it wasn't a warm or humorous one. "You know this explains a lot? It really does. My father never trusted me. I could tell." Squall had no comeback for that. "Oh I know he loved me, but he was always…checking up…on what I'd been doing. Like I was going to turn around one day with a knife in my hand. Maybe he knew." She looked up at him. "What happens now, commander?"

Squall shook his head. "I don't know." He sat on the chair opposite hers. "I know you're a good person Almas. Everyone gets scared. You think you're the first cadet to leave Garden? Quistis and Xu could tell…could have told…you stories back in the day."

"I was afraid, commander."

Squall shrugged. "I guess you had a right to be."

"I knew there was something about her. I knew from the first time I met the woman in that alley. They felt like…family. I don't know how else to put it. And she was so _intense._" Squall told her the names and she nodded. "Makes sense. She beat me down pretty bad. The man saved me, I don't know why."

"I can guess why. He knew we'd bring you here eventually."

"What if that tiny doc's right commander? What if I'm here to spy on you? I could be doing it without knowing it or-"

Squall headed her off before hysteria could take over. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He stood. "You were a cadet when you left Deling City. As far as I'm concerned you're still a cadet, if you want it."

"Sir?"

"We need every hand onboard for this Almas," he said. "Your friend needs your help. I'd like it. Garden is requesting it. What do you say?"

* * *

"Kill her."

"Shiva!" Quistis said in shock.

"Trepe, I know you treasure your students, but she is one of _them_. She is the enemy. Can you not see that?"

"I'm not convinced of that and neither is Odine," Laguna said. "We did some checking up. Turns out her father was in the army before he left for medical reasons. He did a tour in the Lunatic Pandora."

"And?" Shiva asked, unconvinced.

"Well, it took a while to get him talking but we did, and we dug through the records that Adel left behind. Turns out some _weird_ stuff happened inside that thing when Esthar dug it up. Things turned up. Unusual things."

Quistis blinked and for a moment her usual unflappable demeanour dropped. "No way."

Laguna nodded. "Way. Our corporal lost most of his squad, but on the flipside it seems that he gained a daughter. The dates match. Almas Jordin would have been barely into her second year around that time. Young enough for her father to quit his post and move to Fisherman's Horizon and nobody to ask questions about his new family member. Lots of deserters from both sides went to the Horizon during Adel's reign, I doubt anyone even noticed."

"She was raised human," Quistis said. "You think whatever…'birthed'…Tisiphone and Melanthios screwed up, left her too close to a human for whatever conditioning they had to take hold of her? You're thinking that's the decider?"

"Exxxxactly."

Shiva shook her head. "I remain unconvinced." She took a deep breath. "If you will excuse me, I must…report in." And she was gone.

Laguna smiled at Quistis. "What do you think?"

"I think we've had incredible luck." She looked back at the door to see Almas give Squall a salute, and smiled. _He really has grown._ "Between Odine and whatever edge this may give us we may have a real chance now."

"I know you kids, Quistis," Laguna said. "Long enough to know that one chance is all you'll need."

* * *

_Bahamut did not seem angry. He didn't rage or threaten or order. He seemed shocked. Shiva savoured the moment. It was not often she got the chance to surprise her beloved leader/commander._

"_A Third worldshell?"_

_Shiva nodded."The humans think she could be of use."_

"_No!" Bahamut responded instantly. "Destroy Her."_

"_But…"_

"_No Buts! This War Rests On A Knives' Edge Of Probabilities. I Will Not See Us Teeter And Fall Due To Your Sentiment For The Ape's Feelings!"_

_He must be _really_ angry for his civilised and majestic airs to drop entirely and reveal the bullying tyrant that lurked underneath. Once more she rued the twists of fate that had put him at the top of their little pantheon rather than, say, Leviathan. But Bahamut was as much a slave to outside forces as any other Guardian. Some things are inevitable._

"_Go Back Immediately. Convince Them Of This Course Of Action If You Lack The Will To Do It Yourself."_

_She bristled. "I had hoped to stay a while and recover my-"_

"Now_, Shiva," Bahamut hissed._

_She was gone without another word. She had expended massive amounts of energy to reach Olesia as quickly as she had, it would require more to go back, but she dared not risk the king's wrath any further._

_The great dragon sat in the centre of the city and stewed. He would not see his kingdom ruined. Not by the human's ridiculous' lack of willpower. Not by the backsliding of his subordinate Guardians. Not by anything. There was one left who would do what he asked._

_He called, and the one came, and together in the imaginary city of lights they plotted murder._


	16. Nightfall III

They watched the cheering Galbadians on the screen and cursed.

"Well, they don't waste any time," Zell said.

Nobody else spoke, they only stared at the viewscreen as the sun on the crowd was obscured by shadow, and the camera tilted up to reveal the massive structure of Galbadia Garden floating serenely over Deling City.

"I guess they already cleaned all the blood of the walls."

"Zell!" Rinoa said in shock.

"Sorry Rin. Just doesn't seem right. It tears me up when I think of those bastards using it so soon after…"

Kiros shook his head. "They must have been working non-stop since the…takeover…to get it fully up and running this fast. Now they have a mobile fortress again, not dependant on fuel or weather. Nobody ever said Caraway was a stupid man." He looked around at the gathering.

Everyone was there. Even Cid had come from Balamb Garden, and Shiva was stood with the SeeD delegation. Days spent waiting for news as all information flowed into the city was dissected and worked over looking for any flaw or tactic that could be gleaned from it. Long walks through Esthar City to unwind and think, nights spent in fitful sleep or worry. Now, finally, Laguna had called them all back to the presidential palace.

Laguna rapped on the presidential desk to get their attention. "This is what we have, people. I'm not going to say it's a plan yet, but it's what a plan is before it's born." His gaze swept to encompass them all. "Odine says he's close to working out a solution to the problem of our little magic-killer metal (specifically, the lack of it) but he needs more time. Hopefully someday real soon he gets back to me and says 'oh yez mizzer president I haf a thousand super- swordz for you vhere do you vhant zhem to go'. When he does we're going to need people to pick those swords up and slam them onto the nearest Galbadian they can find."

"So we're splitting you up."

All the SeeDs in the room looked around at Squall, who nodded. "As of today Garden is officially contracted to Esthar for the duration of this conflict," he said. He met their gazes one by one. "All the Garden leadership agreed. No objections?" There were none.

"I feel safer already," Laguna said with a smile. "Kiros?"

The black man nodded and started handing out dossiers. "Like President Loire says, we're going to need every hand we can to meet the Galbadians and pound them into the bedrock. When we make our move we want a unified resistance that can rise up all at once. The Espers can't be everywhere in the world, and that's what we're counting on." He looked around the room. "Each of you has your different skills. We plan to use all of them. Headmaster Kramar and Commander Leonhart will explain more when Garden departs."

Laguna stood from behind his desk. "Make no mistake, we plan to hit back, and hit back so hard Caraway will still be reeling from the blow this time next year. We'll destroy his war machines and reduce his military to rubble, and when we're done with him we'll take the fight to Melanthios and Tisiphone and throw them back into the black hole they crawled out of, and seal the door behind them."

"I hear that," Zell said.

"This is probably the last time we'll meet for a while," Laguna said. "It's always been an honour and a pleasure working with SeeD, and…oh jeez."

Kiros sighed as Laguna wiped a tear from his eyes. "Oh come on man, you were doing so well."

For a moment the years sloughed off Laguna and the young soldier who'd led a rebellion and saved a nation from tyranny shone through again. "Let's get this done everyone. Just make sure you all come back and in a year's time they'll celebrate our victory in the streets. Get to work."

And as one the SeeDs rose and said:

"Yes, Mr President!"

* * *

They were in the central ballroom of Balamb Garden. Squall had foregone the elaborate tech and secrecy of the basement-level war-room and opted for the simple informality of the huge ceremonial area that had made so many memories for all of them.

The tap of shoes on polished wood sounded as Cid approached the group, holding a bottle in one hand and some glasses in the other. A solitary lamp lit the table they were sat around and Squall watched his friends and comrades as they spent one last night together. Zell and Irvine were listening raptly as Selphie spoke volumes on what she'd seen in the Esthar Clockworks, hands waving wildly as if they could encompass the ideas that ran through her head. Irvine and Quistis, heads bent near each other as they talked about something he couldn't overhear, Siren sat by her smiling softly, just happy to be there. It was an open secret the two were together now, and although he'd heard some whispers from other members of the Garden he paid them no heed. The two clearly adored each other. Rinoa sat by his side, just gazing up at the stars through the glass ceiling of the ballroom, staring contently into the night, one hand idling stroking Carbuncle fast asleep in her lap. Almas, Li and Leonard, the three cadets, sat with their heads together. Almas nervously glancing between her two friends as if reassuring herself that they were both there as she talked. Li and Leonard, hands clasped on top of the table, just listening.

In that moment Commander Squall Leonhart felt emotion surge through him. _I would give my life for these people, and gladly at that._

Cid took a seat and worked at opening the bottle. "I've been saving this one for a special occasion." The pop of the cork was the loudest sound in the room, and Cid poured for everyone. "This seems special enough." He hefted his glass. "To SeeD. And absent friends."

"To SeeD," they all replied, and drank.

"I remember when the tallest of you barely came up to my knees, and now look at you all," Cid said shakily. "You made me so proud."

"Couldn't have done it without you sir," Zell said.

"So, what have you got for us Squall?" Quistis asked.

_Time to work._

He was brought back down to earth, and reminded of exactly why they were all gathered here like this. He picked up the thin envelopes from the table and handed them out. "We have our missions. Laguna, Cid and I worked on them while we were waiting on Odine."

"Selphie, Irvine, we're going to need Trabia Garden ready and willing for when we go after G-Garden. Get up there, find out what it will take, and make it happen."

"That's a long way to go Squall," Irvine said.

Squall gave him and Selphie a small smile. "Laguna has said you can take the _Ragnarok_."

Selphie grinned. "We'll get it done. Right Irvine?"

Squall nodded. "I know you will Sephy. They're waiting for you at the Clockworks now. Grab what you need from Garden and go."

The young woman grabbed Irvine's hand and hoisted him out of his chair. "I have everything I need right here." She looked around the table. "Well, I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"Good luck you guys," Rinoa said softly as the pair walked off and vanished into the Garden's night.

"Next. Zell, I know this probably isn't what you wanted-"

"Just tell me the word boss."

-"But you're staying here," Squall finished, and braced himself. He didn't have to wait long.

"_What!_ Squall I _know_ I can be more use to-"

"Not in the Garden Zell, I mean in Esthar," Squall said quickly to placate the man. "We need someone here who can train up Laguna's soldiers on how to fight magic."

"Let the other instructors do that, I can-"

"They want _you_, Zell. All of our instructors are teachers in _one_ thing, and none of them can teach physical combat like you can. Esthar is going to need a crash-course in a discipline they can recognise and learn _fast._ I promised Kiros we'd leave him the best, and you're the greatest martial-artist in the world."

Zell glared at him. "Damnit Squall you know I'm not going to say no. Just don't expect me to be happy about this." He stood. "Just promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"The _second_ you need me; you call," Zell said.

"Done." He watched as the young man jogged off into the dark, and then turned. "Quistis?"

"Commander?"

Squall halted for a second. "It still seems strange when you call me that."

Quistis smiled. "You'll have to get used to it someday."

"You won't, actually," Cid said.

"Sir?"

Cid sighed. "I'm an old man, kids." He waved away their objections. "No, hear me out. My job's done here. I've taken you as far as I can and you don't need me being a burden on your time and resources anymore."

"You were never a burden Cid, never," Squall said.

"Be that as it may, after we go our separate ways I intend to return to Centra and be with my wife. She's waited for me there too long." He stood and looked down at Quistis and Siren. "Ms Trepe, I intend to resign my post as Headmaster of Balamb Garden and nominate you in my place. Since no-one but me gets a vote I believe that makes you the clear victor. Congratulations. Your post begins at midnight tonight."

Quistis looked from Cid to Squall, and then back to Cid. "I don't…I…"

Rinoa squealed with glee. "You'll do a great job Quisty."

Siren laid her hand on top of Quistis'. "I know you will too," she said.

When Quistis looked up at Cid Kramer there were tears in her eyes. "It would be an honour. I won't let you down, father."

They said nothing as Cid left the room. The mantle had been passed. What else was there to say?

Squall coughed and handed her the piece of paper he was holding. "It's not midnight yet, though. Consider this the last order I can give you." He took a deep breath. "We don't know enough. Kiros isn't worried about Galbadia so much as the Espers and their commanders and I think we can agree on that." He waited for the nods to subside and went on. "We know that the Two are artificial humans rather than magical spirits like Guardians. That means they were built somewhere. That means somewhere out there is the information we need." Squall withdrew a small map from his pocket as he talked. "The Esthar Clockworks and Odine's labs are the only places on earth with tech like that. _Except_ for one other place."

"Battleship Island," Quistis said immediately. "Also known as-"

"The Deep Sea Research Facility," Squall confirmed. "Whoever those people were before they died they knew enough to entrap Bahamut. That's a scary level of technology combined with a control over magic we still don't have. Go there, find out what you can."

"I'm going with her," Siren said instantly. She turned on Quistis. "Don't you dare argue."

"I agree," Rinoa said. "Better safe than sorry."

Quistis looked thoughtful for a second, and then nodded. "Yes, sir." She stood, taking Siren's hand as she did so, and two walked off into the night.

_And now the finale._ "Cadets?"

Almas Jordin, Li Nuo and Leonard Nerva looked nervously at Squall. It was Li who spoke first. "Sir?"

"I'm going to ask this of you, and it's a request and not an order." He met all three of their gazes before he continued. "You've all lost things and it's because you joined Garden. I wouldn't blame you for refusing me now."

"Sir I think there's nobody in this Garden who wouldn't die rather than let you down," Leonard said.

"Then go north."

"Sir?" Almas said.

"You're an unusual woman Ms Jordin. I presume…"

"They both know, sir," Almas said quickly.

"We don't care. She's our friend," Li said forcefully.

"Then you're both going to the Shumi Village." He raised a hand to forestall a reply. "The Shumi know things we don't. They've mastered their own minds to an amazing degree and we think maybe they can help you find out who you really are, cadet Jordin."

Squall reached into his pocket and drew out three small metal objects and tossed them to each teenager. "As of this moment you are all SeeDs, rank 1." Leonard and Li looked shocked, but Almas glowed with pleasure. "This will get you audience with the Shumi. I know you haven't completed your training yet, so consider this your chance to earn those badges in the field."

"We won't let you down Commander," Li said quietly, and saluted.

"I know you won't. Go find Selphie and Irvine. The _Ragnarok_ will drop you off." He watched as the three cadet- no, not cadets. The three soldiers went off, talking animatedly between themselves. Finally, they were alone.

"We first met here. Do you remember?" Rinoa said dreamily.

_I could never forget._ "Rin-"

"Don't even think about it Squall," she said, looking down at Carbuncle.

"I didn't even-"

"You want me to stay at Garden. You want to go off and do whatever it is Laguna has planned for you while I wait here."

"Yes," he said. Why argue the truth?

"I won't leave you Squall. Not now, not ever. When I was…taken…to Winhill all I thought about was getting back to you. I go where you go, now and forever." She smiled at him and Squall felt his heart skip. "Now, where are _we_ going?"

"Timber," Squall said. "Then Winhill, then back to Dollet, then anywhere else in the world we can find with more than one street and five people. We have a resistance to build."

Rinoa smiled at him. "Then we'd better get to work."

* * *

They didn't bother to pack much.

"I'm gonna miss this place."

Irvine put his hands around Selphie's shoulder and stood by her. "We'll be back."

Selphie laughed and shook her head as she stared out into the night. "Maybe. Maybe we'll just stay on the _Ragnarok_. Fly it over the world for the rest of our lives. Chase the sunrise."

"I think Odine may cry if you take his precious toy."

Before Irvine could react Selphie spun around, grabbed him by the collars and dragged his head down to meet hers and kissed him. _She tastes like cherries_. "Irvine Kinneas," she whispered when she withdrew, "if I could sail away to the stars after all this was done and never return to Garden, would you come with me?"

He didn't hesitate for a single millisecond. "Yes._"_

Selphie smiled at him as she drew him over to the bed. She didn't bother to ask him the question. She knew the answer. "Good enough."

* * *

_Headmaster!_

The word spun through Quistis' head as she packed the single backpack she had. She could feel Siren's eyes on her as the other woman stood behind and watched. It made her feel safe.

"I know you'll be great, Quistis," Siren said.

She laughed. "You know, I think I will be too." She thought ahead. _We'll need a boat, and some climbing gear. I wonder if Esthar can spare a small launch?_

"Do you really not mind if I come with you?"

Quistis stopped packing and turned to face her lover. "Of course not. Why would I mind?"

Siren looked nervous. It was heartbreakingly cute. "I just wondered."

Quistis walked up to the Guardian, her hands grasping hers and drawing close until they could feel each other's breath on their necks. "If I could stay with you here forever I would," she whispered, gently kissing Siren's neck.

"I just…don't want to see you hurt," Siren said.

"I was lost until you saved me." The two sunk down to the floor until Quistis kneeled over Siren, the Guardian's back against the wall. "You could never hurt me. Never."

"I would rather tear down my city with my own hands," Siren whispered.

"Will you take me there one day?"

"If I could," Siren said as she wrapped her arms around Quistis and drew her down for another kiss, the need for physical contact bringing tears to her eyes as it almost overwhelmed her. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," she replied.

* * *

They were in shock. Leonard was the first to speak.

"We did it."

Li shook her head sharply. "We've done _nothing_ yet. You heard the commander. Just because they gave us the badges doesn't mean it counts. We're going to earn this."

Almas diplomatically looked away as Leonard touched Li gently on the shoulder. It seemed to have an instant calming effect as Li paused from her frantic packing and turned to look at them both. "I'm sorry. I know, I know, calm down right? It's just…"

"Just what?" Almas asked.

"Are we really ready for this? I mean we're barely adults and-"

"The heroes were our age when they saved the world," Almas said.

Li snorted. "Oh, yeah, pile the pressure on why don't you?"

There had been shock. There had been surprise and recriminations and _why didn't you try and contact us why didn't you tell us why didn't you, why, why, why_. In the end they had found their equilibrium again, each supporting the other in a perfect triangle. From the second Almas had walked into the room where they waited in Esthar's labs they had known they would fall back into this three-part rhythm. Each was the pillar that supported the other two. Their bond, previously strong as steel, was now inseparable.

"Well hey, I just thought, maybe now we get our chance to show what we can do," Almas said with a shrug. "And find out some things about this thing under my skin." She rapped on her arm. It had almost fully healed, only a bandage any sign there had ever been anything wrong.

"Chance to get our asses frozen off in Trabia," Leonard said as they fell back into the familiar conversation.

"You're both packing cold-weather clothes right?" Li said.

"Of course, because I had so much time to shop when I was walking across that damn railroad and locked up in Esthar."

"I thought my natural _warmth_ and _sunny _disposition would- _argh. _You know for assaulting a SeeD they lock you up in Esthar?"

"I think I'd like to lock you up in Esthar and take away your dumb jokes."

They packed as talked through the night, a youth and vigour untouched by the ravages of war and time. An island of light in a sea of uncertainly and darkness.

* * *

Balamb Garden set sail for the deep ocean before dawn had a chance to break. SeeDs and cadets lined the railings and balconies as a cheering crowd of dockworkers waved them off from the dockyards.

"I always hate to leave," Rinoa said wistfully.

"We'll be back," Squall replied.

Rinoa spun on the corridor floor as the heavy blast proof hatch opened and the third member of their team stepped onto Garden. Squall had told him not to come via the front door. Rinoa's words and several long talks and debriefings had taken the edge off his own feelings, but others would not be so amenable to reason.

"Permission to come aboard?" Seifer Almasy said.

"…Given," was all Squall managed.

Rinoa stood between the two men like a dam between two roaring oceans. So much emotion and rage poured into first a childhood rivalry, then a grudge, and then a war that had swept a world along and took them both along until neither had recognised the other as the childhood companions they had once been. She made her stand.

"Before this war ends we're going to sort this out," she began, and looked at Squall. "We have to work together for this plan to work." She looked at Seifer. "We have a lot to talk about."

"I don't see how-"

"Don't interrupt me Squall. We've been through a lot, all three of us. Laguna put his trust in us, in_ all_ of us, and I don't intent to let him down. For now all I ask is a truce. Can we have this, at least?"

Squall nodded shortly.

Seifer looked to one side past Rinoa as he answered. "Truce."

Rinoa sighed. She felt drained inside. Anyone caught between Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy was no longer risking their life. But their patience?

Absolutely.

* * *

In other places and other worlds, plots were made and implemented.

The board is set, the pieces on their way.

Melanthios sat back in Caraway's chair and smiled at the ceiling.

"The game's afoot."

* * *

* * *

Just a headsup: I'll be removing some of my older stuff from the site soon because frankly it's not a little embarrassing how badly-written they are compared to this (if you find _this_ badly written then make of that what you will!) so if you really want to check out how I wrote nearly a decade ago, go for it.

I know I don't make author's comments very much anymore but I'd like to thank those of you still with me here. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a kick out of knowing people like/tolerate what I write.

As usual comments, questions and criticism (no, honestly) in either PM, e-mail or review form are always welcome.

-Cobray


	17. The Beast that Screamed Hate

The rotten building loomed over them like an out-of-control cancer. Dead vines and rotting leaves covered the rusted steel and gave it a reddish-brown sheen of menace.

Siren gazed up at the building in trepidation at the ordeal to come as Quistis waved _goodbye_ to the Esthar soldier that had ferried them to this small dead corner of the world. Even the name was an omen of bad luck.

Battleship Island.

"Don't look so worried. There's nothing in there except dust and old ghosts," Quistis said, putting a hand on Siren's shoulder. She hoisted her climbing gear and they walked along the teetering planks that led towards the door. Quistis gave a small smile as she pointed. "This is how we got in the first time."

On the rust-eaten shell of metal that had been the entrance there was no handle. Instead the shape of a large boot had been imprinted in the centre of the metal frame.

"Zell's work?"

"None other," Quistis said.

The door swung inward easily and they entered. Instantly they could smell the stale iron-tasting air of the long-empty laboratory, and in the centre-

"It's horrible," Siren said.

Quistis nodded. "It was worse, before." She pointed deeper into the room. "Look."

The giant smashed tube was all that remained of Bahamut's one-time prison. Deep claw-marks in the steel floor and splashes of blood on the walls marked his escape.

"He gave us quite a fright," Quistis said. "We guessed they had the tube so close to the entrance in case they had to make a break for it."

"I can feel his anger," Siren whispered. _He was here, in this small tube, for decades._ Quistis had told her the story of the Facility's discovery on the outward journey. _Before you freed him. The rage and impatience stayed behind. _It infested the air itself. She shivered. "Let's just go."

* * *

"_What do you think this place was?" Irvine asked as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath._

_It had taken a lot out of them. The fight had seemed to last days and they were exhausted, but more than that it had shook them. The roaring dragon had finally vanished into the ether, looking as badly wounded as themselves, but Squall had noticed the already-damaged state of the GF. If the fight had been this bad against a _weakened_ dragon, whoever it had been, how much worse could it have been?_

"_I don't think…we should junction…it for a while," Squall gasped. "Let's just…keep going…"_

_They trudged through the metal labyrinth of the island. The island had pinged on the sensors of the Ragnarok and Selphie had squealed in delight when it came into view on the horizon. Squall had argued they didn't have time to investigate what was certainly just an old ship ruin, but had been overruled by Rinoa. _There's something down there. Something we can use,_ she had said, and he had acquiesced. Even back then, so soon after coming back from the disastrous moon station, their bond had been closer than ever._

_Annoyingly, Zell seemed to have suffered the least from the raging battle. He was moving from wall to wall, staring up at writing on whiteboards and grabbing paper from dust-covered desks. "Whoa, this is some heavy stuff," he said. "Looks like this place was researching new ways to Draw, using GFs as test subjects." As he spoke, Squall felt a crawling in his mind, and addressed his thoughts inwards._

What is it?

I don't like this,_ Shiva said. _We should leave.

I thought you'd be pleased, _he replied_. Was that one of your comrades we freed back there?

An old…friend_, Shiva said, but Squall could hear the hesitation in her voice._

* * *

The two women stepped through the labs gingerly. Even all these years later the signs of their first arrival were still visible as smaller amounts of dust surrounded by larger amounts of…well…dust.

"It feels like a tomb," Siren said.

Quistis nodded sadly. "Laguna and Kiros thought so too." She scanned the desks as she moved, checking every few minutes that Siren was near her. "They thought these people must have been some offshoot of Odine's labs. Less ethical."

"Less ethical than _Odine?_"

Quistis shrugged. "It's a very low bar I admit," she gave a slight shudder. "But I think those people may have managed to sail under it." She clipped a dull cylinder to the ceiling and tapped it. Instantly the room was lit with a harsh yellow glow. The light cast by the glowstick was sickly and threw shadows into all the wrong places. It was grotesque. "We're looking for any information we can find about creating fake people. Artificial humans, magic-based life-forms. You check the papers, I'll check the machinery."

"Will they work? This place must be ancient-" Siren stopped as Quistis put a finger to her lips.

"Listen."

Siren did. After a second she closed her eyes and opened her senses wide. A millisecond after that and: "I don't believe it."

She could hear the dull turning and grinding of machinery below them.

"Zell did good work," was all Quistis would say as she turned back to gathering the papers.

* * *

_"I don't like this Rin! Are you sure something's here? Maybe it was just that giiiiaint lizard and we can leave now!" Selphie said._

_Rinoa shook her head. "No. It's still…below us…"_

_Irvine turned back to look at the group. "Well, I hate to disappoint you guys but it looks like the path ends here." He tapped the giant blast-door, making a hollow sound. "No way are we getting through this unless we can get the Raggy's cannons in here."_

_Zell put his hands together and cracked his knuckles. "Allow _me._"_

"_Zell wait!" _Please don't blow us all up!_ Squall thought as Zell wandered up to the panels and displays next to the door and rapped it with his knuckles._

"_Looks simple enough," Zell said. "Runs on geothermal energy. Turbines turn the steam into power and that's fed into the wiring system. They must have had some kind of volcanic vent under here because this stuff is _ooooold_ and still running."_

"_Can you get us through?" Rinoa asked._

"_But of course," Zell said, turning back to the panel, ignoring or pretending to ignore the looks of disbelief from Squall and Quistis._

_Minutes later their faces were a little redder as the massive door swung ponderously open to reveal a staircase leading down._

"_It's down there," Rinoa said. "I know it._

_Squall sighed. "Then down we go."_

* * *

"I don't want to go."

Quistis looked back at Siren. "There are more labs down there. We may find something new. There's nothing left up here."

"It's bad," Siren whispered. Her long hair was standing almost on end and her hands had twisted into claws, signs Quistis recognised. As she approached her lover she thought on the ludicrousness of her, a human, having to comfort a Guardian, a being so much more than herself.

"I'm right here," she said.

Siren's heart beat a little slower. "I can sense it, Quistis. It's down there. It's old and it's been down there a long time." She drew back from her embrace. "Did you see it?"

Quistis did not ask what. "Yes, we saw it. We killed it, Siren. Whatever it was, it died years ago."

Siren shook her head as if to clear it out, and seemed calmer. She gave a nervous smile. "Let's go, then."

They descended past other labs. Windows opening out onto the water at first provided some light but as they went farther down the abysmal depths let through no warmth, and all they had was the dim light from the ancient generators Zell had jury-rigged and the inhuman light of Quistis' chemical lamps.

Siren idly ran a finger along the glass outer walls of the lab. "Humans built this?" she asked quietly.

For some reason Quistis felt a faint surge of pride and recognised it for what it was. _The immortal Guardian goddess, fascinated by the workings of the poor ape-like humans._ Instantly she chided herself for the thought. It was beneath her. "Yes," she said.

Finally, on almost the lowest level of the research labs, they found something.

* * *

_Selphie was staring out into the darkness. She had grabbed a light fixture that had been swaying faintly, ripped out of the walls by lack of maintenance and rust, and was shining it into the ocean. Fish swam by in shapes the teenagers had never seen before and with all luck would never have to see again. This far down, totally separated from any sunlight, life changed._

_Squall didn't like to think about how thick or thin that glass wall was._

_Rinoa stood before the giant door, Squall stood close by. He didn't like to be too far away from her. Especially here._

_Dark patches coated almost every surface, like a painter had went crazy and thrown his brush around the room, creating black shapes on reddish-brown metal. But Squall knew from old experience that this wasn't paint. As if the _other_ indications needed to tell him._

_The remains of corpses littered the floor and walls. Rotted away to nothing by the salty air and bacteria, only bones and occasional sheets of papery skin remained. One by the giant blast door, hands dimly clutching the spindly remains that had almost certainly been a rifle before the rust claimed it. Another lay back in one of the chairs, arms barely attached by filaments of bone, a shattered hole it's skull and a pistol-shaped patch of metal filings on the floor. Yet another had almost made it to the stairs, one arm stretched out towards the first step._

"_What happened here?" Selphie said quietly, all exuberance at the discovery of _new things_ vanishing at the macabre sight._

"_They tried to get away," Irvine whispered. "Something in the lab got loose and they tried to run."_

_Quistis shook her head. "No. Look." She pointed ahead of them, to the final dead-end._

_The blast-door was easily twice as thick as the ones before it. Massive rivets and triple-plated pinions covered the surface. It was gigantic. But that wasn't what disturbed the SeeD ex-instructor._

_The door was damaged. Undulations in the surface of the metal made an imperfect seal around the door, and shallow claw-marks in the shape of massive hands dented the metal. Whatever had tried to open it from the inside had had the strength to bend the metal, but not the purchase or fulcrum to pry it fully open._

"_What do you feel?" Squall asked, and not just to Rinoa._

"_It's beyond there," Rinoa whispered._

Do not go there, Leonhart,_ Shiva said. _There are some secrets that should remain buried.

_Zell looked around the room at the looks on his friend's faces and sighed. "What, really?"_

"_Zell…" Irvine began, but was headed off._

"_We came down here looking for power and Rinoa says there's something _powerful_ behind that door. Even if whatever did that is still alive, we're SeeDs! We've outran a nation, beaten down an entire missile base and been to the _moon_. Are we seriously going to come all this way and just _turn around_?"_

_Irvine shrugged. "Well, when you put it like that…"_

_Quistis nodded. "We'll need any advantage we can find for the battles ahead."_

_Rinoa just stared ahead at the door and said nothing, but Squall could feel her reaching out. She wanted in._

_Selphie gave a small grin and Squall could see Zell's words had reached her as well. He sighed. "Whatever."_

_Zell cackled and turned back to the door. "Have this open in a jiffy!"_

* * *

They both stared. Not at the printouts scattered on the table, but at the huge stone fragment that had been winched and levered and bolted to the wall behind it.

"I don't believe it. They actually did it," Quistis said.

Siren ran a finger over the carvings. She was too young to have fought in the Esper War all those millennia ago, not even being 'born', but Shiva had taken her aside in Esthar and told her everything. She wished the older Guardian was here, she was so much smarter than her. Quistis and Shiva both. She glanced to one side to look at Quistis, saw the rapt look of understanding as the SeeD stared at the carvings and printouts, and for a second the old worry came back from the first time since their eyes had truly met. _Why? Why does she want me? What can I possibly offer her that she doesn't have?_

Quistis shook her head to clear the stars from her eyes. She wished she had her glasses. Contacts were fine for combat and convenience but you couldn't beat a good pair of glasses for paperwork. "This is it," she said, pointing at the centre on the giant stone slab.

In the centre were two figures side by side. One was recognisably a man. The other was different. Like a human stretched out on a rack. Legs tapered down and jointed in ways that would involve broken bones in a normal person, and arms the same way twice the length of a man's. A second pair of eyes set above the first, six long and slender fingers on a hand the size of a dinner-plate.

Not human.

_Maybe that was all it had taken. Just wrong enough, just different enough for humanity to say: _No. We will not share this world with monsters._ Maybe after that it was inevitable._ But then a second thought came to her, running quickly after the first: _I wish I had been able to meet them._

"Can we leave?" Siren asked.

Quistis shook her head. "No, not quite yet." She gestured at the slab. "It's broken in places. _This_ looks like some kind of runewriting." She traced a line down the carvings. "I recognise it partly from the old textbooks in Garden. Not so much a language as magical notation."

"Like sheet-music." Siren said.

"Exactly. No matter what language you speak you can read it if you're trained. It's been standard for magic-users for as long as humans have been using para-magic." She pointed at what appeared to Siren as squiggles in the rock. "_This _style of rune is used to maintain magical structures over long periods. Longer-burning fires and things like that. _This_ one next to it is used for reinforcement. Stronger materials, etcetera."

"Like…"

"Like Tisiphone." Quistis shook her head. "It's incomplete though. They must have only brought up this chunk before the disaster killed them." She sighed. She was staring at the origins of magic itself. "They must have written down all their knowledge on tablets like these, and then it all sunk into the sea after the Esper War. What a waste."

"You're amazing," Siren said in awe. Then the full weight of Quistis' words bore down on her. "There's more? But we checked through everywhere else. That means..."

Quistis nodded absentmindedly. "Exactly." She turned to face the massive blast-doors again. "We have to go down and get the rest."

"No."

"Siren…"

Siren shook her head and took a step back. "I can't go down there."

Quistis could see she was truly afraid. "Siren, what's wrong?"

Siren didn't look Quistis in the eyes as she answered. "Guardians have their own legends. Our own monsters. I can't. I'm afraid."

They were both barely more than whispering now. "I have to go Siren. There are answers we need down there." She stepped back and made her decision. "Wait for me here."

Siren is left alone, down miles below the surface of the ocean. The faint drip of water onto steel is all she can hear besides her breathing. All she can do it wait and she rages and curses at herself for her cowardice, and orders her mind to _go_ and _follow_, but it will not listen. It is absorbed in its own fears as she feels the enmity belch forth from below like smoke from a chimney. Her mind has fallen back; back to her 'childhood' in the city when Shiva still sang songs high across the towers and everything was still perfect and crystal-clear. It is one song she remembers now. It is all she can remember.

* * *

"_It's _creepy_!" Selphie exclaimed as she carefully navigated the slime and moss-covered__ stairs._

_Infinity reached down on either side of the narrow passages. _What's keeping the water out?_ Squall thought as Rinoa led them onwards and downwards._

"_We have to keep going," Rinoa gasped. "I can feel it! It's huge!"_

_They can all feel it. The farther they go down. Irvine has staggered on the steps more than once and Quistis is struggling to remain upright._

_The air is corrupt._

"_I can see light!" Zell shouts, rushing forward. "I can see the bottom! There's machinery down here!"_

"_ZELL, WAIT!"_

_Squall curses and tumbles after him. They can't afford to get split up, down here. The path is thinner now, a single green-encrusted stone walkway with nothing but black to either side and nothing to stop them if they fall, and they will fall forever. He knows it._

_They are in the grave of the world._

* * *

_Through the crystal city,_

_off paths the sun's not dawned._

_We daren't go through walking,_

_for fear of what's beyond._

* * *

**SO THE LITTLE GIRL RETURNS**

"You have no power over me. You're dead, we killed you."

**LIES YOU TELL YOU TELL YOURSELVES I CAN SMELL THE FEAR IN FEAR IN YOUR SOUL HAVE SOUL HAVE YOU COME BACK TO GLOAT GLOAT OVER YOUR PETTTY TRIUMPH**

"I'm only here for these. You're not real."

**YET YOU SPEAK ALOUD TO ME ME RUN LITTLE GIRL RUN BACK UP BACK TO THE LIGHT YOUR PATHETIC GUARDIAN TOY SHE DOESN'T LOVE YOU**

"_Liar!_"

**COULD NEVER COULD HOW COULD SHE A PERFECT GODDESS DEIGNS TO WALLOW IN WORTHLESS FLESH YOU BUT HER YOU DISGUST HER TAKE THEM TAKE YOUR STONE MESSIAHS AND LEAVE ASK HER YOU KNOW KNOW IM RIGHT**

_Ghosts never killed anyone just get what you need get the tablets find the lines and symbols and take them and go and don't look back don't look at the body. Go back up. She's waiting for you, don't let her down._

**CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS LIKE THOUGHTS JUST LIKE MUD WONT HELP NEVER COULD THEY THE TWO TWO WORLDSHELLS THAT YOU FEAR THE THE BLACK AND RED WEAK IN THEIR WAY PUPPETS JUST PUPPETS OF ANOTHER BUT WILL CAN WILL CHURN YOU INTO DUST WELCOME DUST I WELCOME THEM I AND I AND I WILL CELEBRATE AS THE WORLD MAN WORLD OF MAN BLEEDS FIRE **

**BUT WHAT FUN IS THAT FUN THE FUN IS IN THE CHASE THERE IS NO FUN IN CORNERED PREY SO PREY SO I WILL HELP YOU HELP YOU SEEK IT OUT SEEK THE KNOWLEDGE RECORDER THE KNOWING GOD TRAPPED IN THE CITY PRISONER OF CRYSTALS IT KNOWS ALL SEES ALL IT CAN SHOW YOU THE GOLDEN GOLDEN PATH TO LIFE COME LITTLE GIRL GIRL TURN AND SAY THANK YOU THANK ME FOR THIS FOR GIFT THIS GIFT**

_Turn and look back. Just once turn and look, see it as it is or you'll always wonder whether it's behind you about to strike._

**THAT'S RIGHT LOOK AT LOOK AT ME SEE WHAT YOU DID BUT NOT ENOUGH ALIVE ALIVE BUT TRAPPED IN THIS ROTTEN THIS CORPSE BUT BUT BUT NOT FOREVER NOT ENOUGH WILL COME UP COME THROUGH SPACE AND TIME FOR YOUR FRIENDS FRIENDS YOUR STUDENT YOUR LITTLE LION WHO YOU WANTED WANTED SO BADLY YOUR SORCERESS BITCH YOUR LAZY FOOL YOUR HAPPY LITTLE FLOWER GIRL YOUR YOUR GRINNING APE FIND YOU ALL REVENGE WILL GET REVENGE ON YOU ALL SAVE YOU UNTIL YOU UNTIL LAST SO PROUD AND UPRIGHT HIDING YOUR LONELINESS YOUR LONEILNESS FROM THE WORLD REDUCED TO PITY SCREWS ONLY PITY FROM FROM NONPEOPLE FROM MAGICAL SHADOWS PRIDE GOES PRIDE GOES BEFORE THE FALL MISS TREPE TREPE TREPE I AM THE STRONG AND THE LAST THE FINAL HURDLE I AM THE ULTIMA AND THE OMEGA I WILL FIND YOU YOU FIND ACROSS ALL TIME YOU CANNOT HIDE CANNOT**

**I WILL FIND YOU AND FUCK YOUR CORPSE AS YOUR GUARDIANWHORE WATCHES**

"All I see is a beaten and broken _thing_."

**STILL AFRAID CAN FEEL IT CANT LIE TO LIE TO ME**

**SEEK IT FIND IT THE**

**THE KNOWLEDGE RECORDER**

"I'm not afraid of you."

**LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR**

* * *

"_We tell nobody. Not Laguna, not Cid, not _anybody_."_

"_Let it rot forever."_

_

* * *

_

Siren cries out and rushes to Quistis as she comes up through the door hauling a cloth sack filled with stone shapes that _clink_ together as she pulls them up the stairs. Hours have passed.

"Shut the door," Quistis whispers with her eyes shut. "Please."

Siren jumps as if a gun has gone off and runs to the giant door. As she passes the shivering SeeD though Quistis grabs her hand and pulls her back. Siren opens her mouth in shock and gasps. _She's so cold._ "Quistis?"

Their eyes meet and that's all it takes, some building pressure breaks. Quistis is moving Siren back against the nearest wall kissing her hard as tears stream down her cheeks and Siren can feel the heat that seems to be radiating from the woman's lower belly through both their clothes as Quistis' hands run beneath her white dress.

"Don't leave me," Quistis weeps and moans in fear as she caresses Siren's body, as if reassuring herself that the Guardian is real. "Tell me you love me."

"Always." She's never felt intensity like this, the _need_ in Quistis is overpowering her senses as she feels the cold hands run over and into her, touching her in deep places. It feels _so good_ and she recalls Odine's words and thinks; _I would give up this eternity and all the next._ She can feel it too now and she responds eagerly and desperately, and she's pulling or being pulled down to the floor as the dress is pulled off her and her own hands undo buttons and clasps but she doesn't care as they move together.

They make love furiously as if the world could end in the moment, two warm bodies in the depths of the ocean.

But the ocean is vast and deep.

The ocean has no pity.


	18. Winterborne

Almas tried to wipe the snow out of her eyes but to no avail as the backwash of the massive airship just blew more into her face. Shivering after being outside of the ship only a few minutes, she gripped her jacket tighter around herself. She looked around at her friends. Leonard was waving at the cockpit of the _Ragnarok_ as Selphie took the craft up and away, and Li was calmly checking her gear.

"C-c-c-can we just get moving?" she said.

With typical thoroughness Li finished checking her gear before she answered. "Alright, huddle up." The teenager cupped her hands and closed her eyes, and a second later a small yellow _flash_ of flames in her palm gave them some warmth as they were buffeted by below-zero winds. The three stared at the small map they had been given.

_Ye gods I wish I could do that."_So where is this place?" Almas asked.

Li pointed. It wasn't where they currently were. Small hope. "There."

"That's half a mile from here!" Leonard groaned as he rubbed his hands together. "Tilmitt couldn't have dropped us any closer? Just land the sucker on top of the damn village!"

"Shumi get nervous around airships. As you'd know if you'd paid attention to any of those world history lectures they gave us."

"I never took that elective," Leonard said.

Almas had wandered into the lecture once for something to do while she waited for her own classes to begin. The Shumi never said why they demanded all visitors walk to their single village, but several ruined land-cruisers and piles of twisted wreckage in a rough half-mile's radius of their home had made the point clear: Come as you are, or not at all.

"Wonder why," Almas asked.

Li fell into what Almas called her teacher-talking-to-dumb-student voice. She would make a great Garden instructor some day. "The Shumi are _old_. They keep themselves to themselves and expect the same courtesy from humans. They have the technology to build and maintain an underground village complete with crops and light and warmth, in _Trabia _of all places. I don't want to be the one to start testing their patience here."

"Well then," Leonard said, "we'd better get walking."

* * *

"You think they'll be okay?" Irvine asked as the _Ragnarok_ sped south to its next destination.

Selphie barely broke the rhythm of her humming as she replied: "They'll be fine, the Shumi are good people."

"They just kind of creep me out," he admitted. His memory of their one short visit to the Shumi Village was all contrasts. A sunny and picturesque scene of tranquillity buried deep within the raging snowstorm and dead rocks of the frozen continent. A man who enjoyed being able to look up at the stars at night, he'd found it nearly unbearable after only a few hours.

No windows either.

"If anyone knows how to help that poor girl the Elder will," Selphie said confidently. She was clearly thinking about the upcoming reunion with her friends at Trabia Garden. It wasn't callousness, Irvine knew. Selphie simply always looked to the future.

"I see it!"

Irvine stood and walked next to the pilot's chair. He followed Selphie's finger to see the faint golden ring in the distance that marked Trabia Garden. Compared to Balamb's flawless concentric halos it looked patchy and decrepit, but not nearly so much as the first time he visited all those years ago. Selphie must have really gunned it to get here so fast.

"I wonder if the basketball court is still there," he whispered.

"Of course!" Selphie replied happily. "We should all go back there some time, together. Just an anniversary. It was a big day for us."

"One of the biggest," Irvine said.

* * *

"Can you believe this place?"

"Not so loud, Leonard."

"But can you _believe _this place!"

Almas stepped off the elevator and took a deep breath of air that _didn't_ feel like it was driving razorblades into her throat. The sun was shining in the sky, off in the distance a field of grain undulated gently in a mild breeze. It was heavenly. It also was deep, deep underground. "Yes," she said simply. She glanced down past the stairs to look into the huge dome. "It looks exactly like the pictures."

"Of course it does," Li said. "The Shumi like permanence and calm. No reason to go changing things just for the sake of it."

"Speaking of whom," Leonard muttered, and tilted his head down towards the figure approaching the stairs.

"Welcome to our Village, SeeD guests."

Almas tried not to stare too hard at the Shumi greeter. From a distance and in a bad light the person could have passed for a portly bald human dressed in shapeless robes, with a slightly enlarged head and a yellowing skin condition. Until you got closer and saw the massive hands that reached down almost to the ground and tapered into four slender fingers, or the large eyes that were almost all pupil. Shumi works that managed to find their way outside the Village were coveted as the best in the world. It was easy to see why they were so good at it. Nature or choice had evolved them into the perfect crafts-workers.

Even as a part of her knew the Shumi were deeply pacifistic and avoided conflict at any cost, a small part of Almas still shuddered. Ancient human instinct shouting; _unfamiliar!_

Li bowed deeply. "Thank you for admitting us. It's a great honour."

The Shumi's voice was almost melodic in its androgyny. "And to you, Ms Nuo. We were saddened at the loss of your father. A fine man. He visited us here once." He (she? it?) turned and gestured towards the village. "Come, we'll talk on the way to the Elder."

"He'll see us?" Almas blurted out in surprise, and quickly shut her mouth as Li glared.

"Of course. Laguna Loire has contacted us and explained the situation. Any friend of his is a friend of ours." Laguna's exploits were legendary. Apparently his wandering had taken him here as well. He must have lived a blessed life. "We are also not unknowledgeable about your current situation."

Almas ran a hand idly through the long stalks to either side of the dirt path. The sheer quiet of the place was slightly unnerving. No bustle in the distance of other people going to and fro, no whirs of machinery. No gentle roar of the ocean in the distance. "Our situation?"

The Shumi nodded. "We have our own legends of course. When we created this village we dug things up out of the stone. They lie there even now." He pointed into the field. "Maybe the Elder will show you, it is not for me to say."

They had entered the village. It was quiet, like everything else down here. Some Shumi sat on the steps of their homes, idly carving intricate shapes in wood or weaving by hand with effortless perfection. Almost nobody looked up to see them pass, and Leonard commented on this.

"They will wait for the Elder to inform them. All matters outside the village are his prerogative. You must understand, we are happy with our existence. We feel no urge to expand or explore past our limits."

Did Almas hear some faint reproach in the person's voice? "Surely some of you are curious though," she asked, ignoring Li's jab in her ribs.

"Some. Some of us become dissatisfied and go to the surface. Few who go into the world stay long. Those who do almost never return." He drew up in front of a house only a little bigger than the others in the small village. "We are here." He stepped aside and gestured them forward. "Ask your questions, I hope you find answers."

The three stepped forward, but the young Shumi tapped Li and Leonard on the shoulder as they passed. "I have a gift for your journey. Would you?" His ploy was an obvious one.

Li glanced at Almas who nodded. _I'll be fine._ "Of course," she said. "Lead on."

Almas walked alone into the Elder's house.

* * *

"Is she going to be okay?"

The Shumi glanced at Leonard as he led them away from the hut. "Of course. You are guests here."

Li coughed. "Sorry. She's just…"

"Your friend, of course." The Shumi might have sighed. "Humans forge such deep bonds so very easily." They approached a smaller hut, and as their guide swung the door open an acrid stench came out from within. Li recognised it well.

"You're a blacksmith?" she said.

"Something like that, yes. Come, come."

Li looked around in awe as they entered. The walls were decorated with spiralled and intricate jewels and sculpture, packed close together. This man was _old_.

"It's amazing," Leonard said, leaning forwards to examine what appeared to be a small dagger. Edges and facets polished to a mirror-sheen, the ceremonial weapon looked almost like a gemstone attached to a hilt. It must have been worth a fortune.

"We know about your problems on the surface. An old grievance come back to haunt you." He lifted a small blade off the wall and handed it to Li, who took it reverentially. "While you personally are not to blame there is, I will admit, little sympathy for your plight."

Leonard's eyes narrowed. "_What? _Why not? We're somehow to blame for what our ancestors did thousands and thousands of years ago? That's hardly fair!"

"Leonard," Li hissed. _Don't screw this up._

The Shumi nodded. "It is as you say. Our lifespan allows us to take the long view. It was inevitable the defeated foe should return. The dragon-king has been unforgivably lax. However we are familiar with the magical creatures you have come to know as 'Espers'. They are bullies. We dislike them."

"Oh, well, glad to know we're on the same page there at least."

"Which is why we are prepared to offer _this._.."

* * *

"Sit down, Almas Jordin."

She sat down in front of the smouldering fire in the middle of the room, not taking her eyes from the man in front of her. The Shumi Elder was an imposing presence. He moved around until he was on the opposite side of the embers and looked down at her.

"You are here to find out who you are."

"Yes," was all she could manage, her voice caught in her throat.

The Shumi was silent and all Almas could do was glance around the house. It was circular, with intricate carvings on the walls, all spirals and arcane writing, leading down from some kind of crystal in the ceiling and arcing down into various devices and containers scattered around the room. It looked like the laboratory of a particularly artistic mad scientist. Finally, he spoke.

"You have spent your life longing for something. Looking for something to fill the gap inside you. Like a machine without a purpose. Idle."

The fire must be making her drowsy. It was hard to concentrate on the bulk of the man in front of her. "I…guess so."

Fingers reached through the fire and Almas' hands acted before her brain realised she was being handed something. She stared down at the cup. Brown liquid sloshed inside. It looked like tea. Something Li would tell her to drink to soothe her nerves and she would refuse.

"We are the Shumi. It comes from an old word, _shuini,_ 'to shelter' or 'to hide'. We have shunned the outside world and retreated to our old ways, keeping only what we need to maintain our little piece of a perfect world under the current flawed one. We do not allow entry to outsiders except for certain…exceptional…individuals."

"Laguna Loire was such a man, his kindness reached across all barriers and gave hope to those who need it most."

"Squall Leonhart the stoic heart and blade, Rinoa Heartilly the loving and unyielding angel, Quistis Trepe the keeper of the light, Zell Dincht the primal force, Irvine Kinneas the steady and trusting wanderer, Selphie Tilmitt the un-judging soul."

"All these people have passed through this village to help, and all have found themselves as they did so."

"What are you looking for, Almas Jordin? What name will you leave here with?"

"I want to know what I am," Almas said, and the words came in a torrent. "I've come this far and I thought….I don't know what I thought." She looked up into the bottomless eyes of the Shumi Elder. "I want to know _who_ I am. What I was brought here for. Whether I'm like the other…other two…the other monsters." The room swam before her. The fire seemed in one second to dwarf her and the next smaller than a mote of dust. The walls expanded and contracted. _Don't faint, don't faint. Leonard will never let you forget it if you do._

The man paused for a second before he went on. "The right question. One I can help you answer, young wanderer."

"I see into your soul, past the flesh you wear. There is another you locked away beneath the surface, trapped in a spiderweb of metal and glass."

"I've…I don't-"

"We Shumi have trances we may enter to know ourselves better. Young confused clan-members take leaves coated in certain substances and are guided through the trances to know themselves. The drugs in the soaked leaves grant an inner eye. Something your people seem to lack."

"I…what?"

"It is these leaves I have put into your tea."

* * *

"It's beautiful," Li said as she handled the blade.

"Look closely."

The two teenagers stared intently at the blade. As her hand moved light cascaded from the metal, making a rainbow that seemed t twist and jump inside the sword itself. "What is it?" Leonard said.

"The words have no human equivalent." He took it back from them gently. "We Shumi have different ways of thinking of existence. All living beings are known as _shai'en un l'sho,_ that which breathes. The dead are known as _shai'en un k'zun_, that which is gone."

"The sword is called _Shai'en un Kaleid L'shou. _That Which Steals Breath." The Shumi takes the blade and _turns_ it a certain way and suddenly the rainbow has vanished and been replaced with darkness, the bright light swallowed by the sword's metal.

Now that they can clearly see it they can see the sharp edges and barbed spikes of the blade itself. It looks sinister just sitting in his hand and they both take a step back involuntarily.

If the Shumi blacksmith sees the hesitance on their faces he makes no comment. "This sword was forged back when the Shumi moved to this frozen land. We had to build and dig and clear out for the work to proceed. There were things here, giant feral things back then, and we needed a weapon to quickly destroy them, one that could be even if the user was a simple builder with no skill in war. We are not a species of fighters, but we are beyond-excellent artisans."

"This sword can kill your demons. It can kill _anything._"

* * *

The room is gone. The walls collapse and beyond there is nothing but light. She reaches out to steady herself but her hand hits nothing but air and she i

s

f

a

l

l

i

n

g

With a dull thud that brings no pain she lands. Dazed and confused she gets to her feet stands on the plateau. Infinite white flat sand extends to beyond the horizon.

"Where am I?"

The voice comes back on the wind. _Know yourself._

She turns and the harsh white light cascades and shatters like a kaleidoscope and reforms into a corridor she does not recognise.

"_Where am I!_" she shouts into the glassy walls.

The answer comes from beyond the walls in the voice of the Shumi Elder. _Find yourself and ask._

_Well screw you and your mythical bullshit_, she thinks, and sets off. The light reflects around her as she walks and images rise from the depths as she passes. Idly she watches them.

Blue-suited men with guns run through the corridors chased by what are obviously soldiers dressed in white.

The view dissolves as she moves through imaginary halls and re-focusses into white-suited men measuring and recording and attempting to break through the walls. As one man hefts a spinning drill and slams it into the corridor wall the drill bit _ping_s off the wall and ricochets directly into his forehead, and he falls to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Whatever this place is, it does not _allow_ damage to befall it. She recognises the uniform of the one who rushes to his side and the scene resolves into something she knows.

_I know this place. This is the Lunatic Pandora. I saw the pictures in Fisherman's Horizon. But it vanished after Time Compression ended!_

then where are you now

She spins around and again the walls shatter around her and she drops to her knees as she is thrown through the massive structure ignoring all laws of physics. When the world ceases to spin she raises her head and meets the eyes of-

"_DAD!"_

She rushes forwards to her father and he looks up and for a moment her heart soars. But it is not her that the man is looking at.

Schiff looked up from his sights. "You guys hear that?"

"Hear what? There's nothing here except us and the walls," Adam whispered in reply. Then under his breath; "Miles and miles of goddamn walls."

Schiff shakes his head, trying to clear the faint hiss of static out of his headset. "Swear I heard something."

"Eyes front," their squad leader retorts. No bark in Charl's voice, just the quiet yet absolute confidence that his orders will be obeyed. "Schiff, do you have a problem?"

"Just these damn bug-masks Sir," Schiff replied. "Permission to remove?"

"Denied…A Galbadian squad discovered this place when they were supposed to be guarding Timber. We've barely explored less than ten percent of the crystal pillar, we have no idea what kind of atmosphere or poisons we may stumble over."

Almas looks on as events unfold with a horrible inevitability. "Why am I seeing this?"

The thin voice of the Shumi Elder comes to her this time as a thin crackle over her father's radio. _You are seeing what you need to see. I can't see it for you._

"Uh-uh, no way are we getting that open any time soon," one of the squaddies says as they approach the massive door.

_Don't go in there _Almas thinks at the team she remembers so well. Old men visiting her when she was a child. Pats on the head and sweets and small gifts snuck into her hands when her father wasn't watching.

"We hear you in there!" Charl shouts. "Come out with your hands up!"

"I don't believe he just said that," her father mutters.

"Shut _up_ Schiff! _Now damnit! Come out!_"

The walls are expanding and shrinking at the same time. Like someone had turned up the glare on his visor.

Schiff began to speak. "Sir, I don't think _what the hell is this!_"

Almas watches, an invisible observer as the door swings open. She has heard the story. Memory floods into her from long-locked barricades in her mind and suddenly falls into place like a jigsaw puzzle finally complete.

Sidelong glances from her father's friends when they think she is not looking.

Her only parent veering wildly between emotional states as she grew up. Some days overprotective to a fault, others almost afraid to look at her.

Childhood scrapes and bruises vanishing as she limped home from some tree she had fallen from or metal she had brushed against too hard. She has never been ill. Never.

The gateway opens and suddenly the ghosts of her father and his squad are gone and all that remains is the door leading to nowhere. She glances behind her and the memory of the Lunatic Pandora has vanished. Only white nothing is behind her now. So she takes one breath and

(And as the Shumi Elder watches the motionless girl sat in a trance in his house he thinks: _I wish for just one second I could see through her eyes.)_

she walks forward into the light beyond the door.

Like she always knew she would.

* * *

"Why are you giving this to us?" Li said.

The Shumi smith gestured outside into the village. "We have our own predictions of the future. We have stores of knowledge and experience gathered from expeditions in other worlds that you could never discover, let alone visit. The triumph of those who were cast into the void spells doom for us all. You will need the weapon soon." He thrusts the sword into Li's hand and she takes it. "You will need it for the task ahead."

Li bowed, deeply touched. "I'm awed, sir. Is there any way we can repay-"

"Yes."

Li looked up in surprise. "Anything."

"When I spoke of the need for the sword I was not speaking in future parallels."

A worm of nausea appeared in Li's mind as she replied. "Excuse me?"

"You have been followed. They are here, now."

Within a second Leonard pivoted and ran for the door thinking _oh Hyne how could we have been so stupid, _pistols already leaving his holsters,leaving Li to gape at the Shumi who is already turning away from her and descending the stairs.

She caught up to him as he skidded to a halt in front of the Elder's house. "You see it?"

"Yes." He points.

The grass is dying.

* * *

"Hi."

hello.

"Who…are you?"

i am you. the true self. a being locked away under the human.

Almas stares down at the small girl. She is bone-white and as featureless as an anatomical doll you'd find in any doctor's office. "Why don't I remember you?" she asks. "I have memories of my childhood! I sure as _hell_ didn't look some spooky brat!"

memories stolen in secret from passing strangers, locked away, a truth too big to face as a newborn. locked down below the human mind waiting for the time. that time is now.

The world shifts and she is back in her home in Fisherman's Horizon. Her father, so young then, watching nervously as the white girl takes off the long cloak he had used to take her there. She looks around, drinking in the abode.

father took me in knowing, didn't tell anyone, was afraid of me but had always wanted a child. i helped him, built a humanshell to protect you me us from prying eyes and grasping claws. to protect the worldshell underneath. the message.

Almas shakes her head and finally loses her patience. "Can we please just cut the _bullshit_ and explain what the hell is going on! Why am I like this? Am I some…_spy…_just waiting for the order to reactivate and kill my friends!" Then the apparition's words fully register in her minds. "_You mind-controlled my father into loving me!"_

Her true childhood turns, clearly upset.

no! i'd never hurt them! and he would have loved i you us anyway!

"Then _EXPLAIN!"_

we are the last creation of the old ones, those who were sentenced to death merely for existing.

"You're from the Esper's masters!" Almas shouts in anger.

our creators were yes.

"_Your_ creators! I'm not one of you! I'm a human being!" But even as she says the words she can taste the lie in it. The truth surrounds and traps her here in this space inside her own heart. She can feel the tight grasp of the worldshell around her, a true body that has lain underneath her flesh all her life, now pushing up and out and with its own memories and priorities, and her human persona must adjust and accommodate or be consumed.

we are a warning sent through the border between existence and non-existence.

"What _warning_? Warning us about the Espers? We're supposed to tell everyone our creator's demons got loose? A bit goddamn late if you ask me!"

listen! we are the last message for our successors, the human race! open your mind and accept me. _listen!_

And Almas listens.

* * *

"Mr Nerva, Ms Li. What a pleasant surprise."

"This is neither a surprise nor pleasant," Leonard hissed, pistols steady.

Duo Kayes smiled indulgently, as if Leonard had answered a difficult test question correctly. Diablos glowered as he stood behind the lanky traitor to Garden, the air shimmering behind him as particles of light are caught in his shifting gravitic fields and smashed down into the ground. The crops wilt as he passes, grass pushed down into the soil and walls buckling under sudden weight from nowhere.

"So, you ran to the Galbadians like a whipped dog and they threw you a bone?" Li said, her voice deadly calm.

"Tut tut, Duchess. Such language does your exalted title no credit. Especially when I outclass you approximately two billion to one." Diablos' presence behind him was suffocating. Tendrils of force snaked out from the Guardian and wooden houses smash apart or compact into nothing as if hit with a missile or crushed under an incredible mass.

Leonard stood his ground. "What do you want?"

"Ah. Much more reasonable, excellent. Reasonableness is an advantage in these times don't you think?" He pointed up at the Shumi Elder's home. "We want the girl."

"No. Not now, not _ever,"_ Li said, dangerously quiet.

"_We can take her after we kill you both then_," Diablos hissed through his inhuman mouth. "_Crush you into pulp and grind her into dust. Stand down."_

"No." Leonard's voice didn'tt betray his fear. SeeD hadn't thought they would be followed and they have taken no Guardian backup. They were alone in the Shumi village, trapped in an underground vault with a superbly trained and immoral soldier and a sadistic demon. A nightmare scenario.

Li put an arm on Leonard's shoulder so that Kayes can't see her hand moving on his back. "Is it really worth it Kayes? Even if Galbadia doesn't stab you in the back after this is over you'll still have to deal with the Espers."

Leonard concentrates on the rapid tapping of Li's fingers on his back in Garden code. In any other situation he would have been thrilled to feel her touch. Now he just listened to it's rhythmic tapping as best he could. The message was short.

_Get ready to run._

"Where?" he asked.

"_What?" _Diablos replies, not knowing the question was not for him.

_Anywhere but here. Get them away from her towards the dome walls. Caves back there, can lose them in the rocks._ "Where will you run Kayes?" Li said to cover their half-silent conversation.

"The winning team doesn't _need_ to run," the traitorous SeeD shot back.

_I have a plan. Get them into the dark._ "Mercenary to the end eh? You sold us out for a better deal and this is your maiden voyage for Caraway?"

Kayes shrugged. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. I'm getting older kid, and I don't intend to spend the rest of my life in Balamb Garden, watching the sea all day like some retired fishmonger."

"Fine. Looks like there's nothing we can do to change your mind." Li sighed and prepared herself. "Then it seems such a shame to die here…" she paused to see if they take the bait.

They did. _"The brats see sense. Step aside and-"_

Whatever the demon was about to say was lost in noise as Li's free hand whipped around from behind her back and hurled blinding light at the pair. Kayes cried out in alarm and threw his hands up to protect his eyes as Diablos does _something_ and a black wall rose between the two groups, blocking all light.

"_GO!"_ Li screamed, praying to Hyne that the demon's shield blocks light _both_ ways and that he can't see them either.

They run.

* * *

_Almas._

Almas turns away from her true self as she hears the Shumi Elder's voice penetrate into her psyche. "What?"

_Attackers! Your friends are threatened._

almas… her worldshell-self, inhuman-half begins, but Almas isn't listening.

_Li! Leonard!_ She turns back to her young doppelganger. "How do I get out of here!"

you have never went anywhere. you are still in the elder's home…

"_Just let me go!"_

Suddenly the land shifts underneath her and she topples backwards. She falls down past the ground and suddenly she's back in the smoky room, with the Elder staring down at her. All senses firing she grabs his lapel and hauls herself to her feet. "Wh…what?" she mumbles.

"A SeeD and a powerful Guardian creature were admitted to the village. They are now in combat with your two companions and have done great damage to my people's home. I am confused, I thought all SeeD-"

She cuts him off as she tries to gather her thoughts. "W…who? Describe…"

"A tall thin man with a bad smile, and a black-shelled Guardian."

_Kayes and Diablos. Oh Hyne oh shit no._

The Elder reaches for her. "You are exhausted. You must recover your strength before-"

But her instincts are screaming _friends in trouble!_ and she's already headed for the door, bashing through and staring into the smashed village. She can hear rocks crashing in the distance and begins to walk.

_Hyne I hope this whole thing was worth it_. She knows it was. The switch has finally been flipped and she can feel it like energy running along circuits underneath her body she never knew she had. It's exhilarating. _Well, little old me, let's see what we can do._

* * *

"It doesn't have to end like this!"

The voice comes from everywhere around her, bouncing off the wet stone walls. The Shumi maintenance leaves much to be desired, erosion and water trickling down and making a cavern network in the walls of the village. It must have taken centuries and it is where Leonard and Li have retreated.

Kayes is shouting into the dark. "We can just turn around now and go find your friend while you cower! Diablos can guard this little rathole while I finish off your friend. Feel like giving up yet? I'm walking out right now!"

_No you aren't, _Li thinks. _You want the kill. The thrill of the chase, warm blood and cornered prey. You love it, you disgusting old fuck._ Diablos' silence is more worrying than Kaye's bloodlust though.

She hears the faint tapping of Leonard through the stone and sighs as she interprets the words.

_Great plan, we're stuck in rocks. Now what?_

_Not now,_ she replies. She knows Kayes is listening. She tries to formulate a reply while giving away as little as possible, and is about to reach for the stone wall to speak when-

The darkness becomes more solid around her and without thinking she drops as Diablos' lunges from across the cavern. As quickly as she can Li jumps for a side cavern as rocks pulled in by suddenly shifting gravity whizz by her head._ Shit shit no choice now_. She snaps her hand around and fire blazes in the dark and Diablos' is _right there_ raising his clawed hand for another strike when-

"_FUCK YOU!"_

Diablos' head snaps backwards as the bullet hits him squarely in the forehead. Li has one second to think _did that do it_ before Diablos is snarling at Leonard who has emerged from a side-passage hidden in the rocks, firing wildly at the turncoat Guardian. Li feels pain lance down her arm from a ricochet and ignores it, turning with hands spitting fire to back up her friend. Diablos screeches at the failed ambush and suddenly there's only a dark sphere where he was, and then even that is gone, and the pair are alone.

"Great…plan this…was, Li." Leonard gasps as he reloads.

"Play the hand you're dealt, a certain cowboy once said."

"Hah…haha."

"We have to lose them, get back to Almas and get the hell out of this place."

"_How?"_

Li concentrates and thinks back; rewinding her memory over all the steps they have taken since they had dove into the black hole in the Shumi village wall. It must be half a mile between themselves and the Shumi village, farther still between there and the elevator. _But what choice do we have?_

Leonard rolls his eyes in the darkness as Kaye's taunts continue to bounce off the walls. "Sure. No problem. What could possibly get in our way between there and here? Oh wait."

Li slaps him gently and reaches behind her back. When she withdraws it she is holding the Shumi sword. It's almost invisible in the dark caves. "We can use this to hold off Diablos."

"What about Kayes?"

"Kayes is a coward. He'll run when his little helper goes down."

"That's assuming we can- wait. Can you hear that?" Leonard tilts his head slightly. "Doesn't sound like them. In fact it- oh _no._"

Li stops talking and does the same as Almas' voice reverberates through the cavern. Her eyes meet Leonard's and they shrug as one person as they both climb to their feet and dash towards their friend.

* * *

Almas has only seconds to react as the black shape roars and reaches out from the depths of the cave towards her, but

dodge now

she jumps right as the voice within her shouts a warning. Already it sounds less like the disembodied child she met in her mind and more like her current self. She rolls aside as Diablos spins in midair and draws up facing her, wings flapping madly as he steadies himself.

"_Brat. I remember you."_

She spits at him as she replies. "Diablos. Long time since those woods in Timber."

"_Still a brat though. A stupid brat who doesn't know not to go poking around where she's not supposed to." _The demon hangs back though, as if unwilling to make another strike, and she can guess why.

he has little strength, relies on his speed and concentrated force to kill. requires time to regroup before next chance to attack. like a bird of prey. do not give him that chance.

She listens to her inner self and has already drawn her gunblade and leapt forward. Diablos backs off _(he backs off! _she shouts in pride_) _in surprise and the blade barely misses his arm. Almas turns it into a sideways motion and is rewarded with the _thunk_ of metal hitting brittle carapace, and Diablos hisses in pain and surprise. His eyes flash but Almas is already moving back as the black sphere forms and Diablos warps away to elsewhere, leaving her alone in the ruined field, next to the hole in the village wall.

_I did it I did it I DID IT! _she exults. _Hah! Take that you dumb bastard._

Her celebration is interrupted as she hears sounds echoing from inside the cave. She readies herself for another assault but-

"_ALMAS!"_

Leonard and Li tumble out of the cavern and give her a second's embrace before turning back to face the black pit.

"Nice sword," Almas says.

"_Don't_…touch it. Will…explain…later. Run now," Li gasps, grabbing her hand and hauling her off as fast as the trio can manage.

They spin around at every whisper of the artificial wind through the grass, expecting an assault to rise from the ruined crops and walls at every step. But none comes as they run through the Shumi village. Unconscious or dead Shumi lay bloodlessly on the paths, impossible to tell if they're alive. Diablos' work.

"So did you find out anything?" Li shouts as they run. Stealth is not their main objective now.

"Explain later!" Almas gleefully shouts back. She can feel force singing through her body. It feels like she could run forever. _Is this how the Two feel all the time?_

"Well at any rate it's good to- _LOOK OUT!_"

The ground in front of them crumples and pushes into itself as Diablos rises. Knives zip through the air as the black Guardian releases his grip on Kayes and he throws his arsenal as fast as he can, forcing the trio to dive out of the way and into any cover they can find.

"Not close enough!" the traitor exults.

"_Die here and be forgotten," _the Guardian says.

"Almas," Leonard whispers as they crouch behind the wall. "I don't suppose you got any new superpowers from your little spirit guide?"

"If I did I don't know about them." She glances across at Li. The young woman is clutching her side in pain as she pulls out a small dagger, a lucky throw by Kayes. She spots Almas' worry and waves her down. _Stay where you are!_

"Nowhere else to run now kiddies. Just sit up and it'll all be over in a moment."

"_Fuck…your…animal…soul_!" Almas screams at them. _We're so close! So close!_ She feels a pressure on her shoulder and looks over at Leonard.

"Give me time." He's dropping the bullets out of his pistols and carefully bringing out a small container from his SeeD uniform. She watches as the case swings open to reveal small white cartridges set into individual holders.

Leonard sees her looking. "Irvine lent me these. Said they were for a rainy day. Guess that day came pretty soon."

Before Almas or Li can shout or drag him back down Leonard is spinning and rising and pointing his pistols at Diablos and Kayes, who are grinning and snarling in triumph as they draw back for their assaults.

"COVER YOUR EYES!"

Almas does so without thinking, and just in time. The world goes white and a massive roar comes from Leonard's guns as the Pulse Ammo detonates with the force of a small sun. Diablos' is already forming his protective shell but Kayes is too slow, too slow, and the flesh is seared from his face and hands as he's exposed to the hellish light. He screams and drops to the ground.

"GO GO GO!"

They jump up and run straight for the black sphere filled with death. In a second they are past it and mounting the stairs, taking them three at a time. Almas is the first to reach the elevator and slams the release button to get them out, get them up and out of this tomb. She hears the wail of metal grinding on metal and sighs. But Li isn't relaxing at all; she's looking past Almas at-

"LEO!"

Almas spins to see the door jammed open, Leonard straining with every muscle he has as the black claw tries to drag him back out of the door.

"_NO WAY OUT!"_ Diablos bellows as the light bends around him and he forces himself into the elevator, and Leonard is turning white as his arm seems to collapse into itself. Almas can only watch in shock as Leonard turns his good arm back on himself and shoots wildly into the gap.

Li is raising the black twisted blade over her head and brings it down with all the force she can, but her swing goes wild and grazes past Diablos' head. There is a sickening sound as flesh rips and Diablos' roars in pain, dragging Leonard's severed arm back into the Shumi village as the airlock mercifully slams shut and the teenage SeeD collapses against the seats in the elevator.

"Oh Hyne oh no Leo _speak to me_!"

Leonard looks up at Li and his smile is deathly pale as he grins at her. "Nothing…nothing to it."

The elevator ascends and the trio are hoisted out of the depths. They have gained knowledge, knowledge that may be invaluable. But it has cost them dearly.

Almas listens to the voice inside her as it more and more begins to blend into her own thoughts, her inhuman worldshell pouring its own genetic memory into her own and melding them both together into one whole, and hopes it was worth it.

* * *

Diablos raged at Kayes.

"_Idiot! Moron! You had them in your grasp and you let them go! Now they have the girl and whatever she learned from that fat whale!" _He rakes his claws against the metal wall of the elevator. Kayes is weak, an imperfect junction, and Diablos has no energy to waste to pursue their prey through miles of elevator shaft and rock.

Kayes hisses in pain and tries to concentrate on what his partner is saying. He can feel the burned skin as it sloughs off him and curses at the brats who escaped him. Who _humiliated_ him. "_We_, partner. _We_ had them in our grasp."

"_You think our superiors will care who is at fault!"_

Duo Kayes, ex-Seed, sits cross-legged on the ground. "I think we're not done here yet. I think there's nothing but ice and snow on this Gods-forsaken continent, and there's only one place they can go." He looks back at the ruin of the Shumi village. Nothing living moves there. Any survivors are sensibly staying put in their hiding-places. "They're going to Trabia Garden, and so are we."

He reaches into his pocket and withdraws his communicator. Specially designed, it is more than powerful enough to reach through the miles of rock to the surface, using the very metal of the Shumi shaft-beams itself for its antennae.

"Get me Tisiphone."


	19. Gaslamp Heartland

"They're insufferable when they're winning, aren't they?"

Squall glanced outside and was forced to agree.

Deling in wartime wasn't that much different from Deling in peacetime. On the outside. The gaslight city had always prided itself on its culture and continuity. Those able to fight had already been drafted and sent overseas and to the non-Galbadian city-states, leaving a peaceful city full of the elderly and young, and Galbadian home-guard. They stood around the train stations and town squares, trying to look both stoic and magnanimous in their comfortable superiority, but only managing intimidating and smug. Appearances could be deceptive though. There had already been attacks on the outskirts of the city by angry guerrillas from Timber and other occupied nations, and the only reason the town wasn't crawling with troops was the long distance between the Galbadian heartland and the outskirts most troops were stationed at, and the legendary unreliability of their transports.

Squall glanced up as a young girl dressed in a long dress, straw hat and shawl sat down opposite him, next to the faintly disreputable-looking men in working jeans and jackets. Both Squall and Seifer itched from the unfamiliar and cheap civilian clothing. Rinoa of course wore her disguise perfectly as she put down a battered newspaper in the table between them and smiled.

"The Owls are still around." She tapped the dog-eared copy of Timber Maniacs. "I asked around at the train station and the Timber Owl's HQ-train pulled out of the station just before the Galbadians arrived, and hasn't been seen since."

"Nice work," Seifer said appreciatively.

"How do we get in contact with them?" Squall asked quickly.

Rinoa beamed under her sunhat. "Already sorted. Zone gets in contact with the newspaper every few days for info on what's happening in the town. I've left a message and a location. Now you."

Squall reached into a pocket and withdrew a small list of names. "We've made some progress. Just a few people per group right now but there'd be a decent movement if they worked together-"

Seifer snorted. "Which they won't."

"Which they _will_ when we can show them some progress," Squall snapped.

"I've seen your list _Commander_, half of these guys are teenager gangs with maybe two rusty swords between them," Seifer said. "They'd be more use as human shields than fighters."

They had spent over a week travelling into Deling via every place they could get into. Dollet's remaining forces that had thrown off their uniforms and passed information to Esthar through Balamb's harbour. Winhill farmers forced to ship their food to the capital had hidden them in transports and smuggled the trio past checkpoints and border patrols. Timber's forest-based guerrillas had harried and distracted Galbadian forces wherever they could, using the rail network to travel effortlessly behind enemy lines. All through the continent the small cities had yielded up young men angry at a second Galbadian invasion, and all of whom had been thrilled to see the legendary SeeDs in the flesh. Even though Squall had been unable to guarantee anything, the symbol itself had been enough: _Things are being done. Sit tight, don't get yourselves killed for scraps. We have not forgotten about you. _They had never stayed in more than one place for more than a few hours, and when they had finally entered Deling City, hidden under a grain shipment, they had all breathed a sigh of relief at finally being able to just _stop._

"That's enough," Rinoa said. "Give me the list, I'll add my own." She took the piece of paper and folded it away. "Any other news?"

"Only bad," Seifer said before Squall could open his mouth. "There's something in the water."

"What? I…You mean they're poisoning the water in their own city?" Rinoa almost shouted in shock.

"No, it- Well, it'll be better if she tells you herself." Squall shook his head and gestured Rinoa to move slightly. Rinoa did so, leaving a human-shaped space in the booth that wasn't viewable from the street.

"Hark, the ice-queen cometh," Seifer muttered, as Shiva materialised softly into the empty seat.

The Guardian looked drained. Either the lack of rest or inability to return home was taking its toll on her. Her skin was pale almost to greying and her usual blue glow had shrunk in around her until it was barely visible. With as cloak and at a distance she could have been mistaken for a very ill human. "There is an Esper in Deling City," she said, and even her voice sounded dull. "I can feel it's presence underneath us."

"The sewers?" Seifer said.

Shiva nodded. "Travelling…spread throughout the water itself."

"Are we _drinking_ it?" Rinoa asked in horror, and gently pushed her glass away.

"No. It stays in the dark, down below where it is safe. It is looking for us."

"Can it sense you?" Squall asked quickly.

"Not in my current weakened condition. But be careful. Any unusual magical activity will bring it down upon us. He…it…is most likely here as a watchdog."

Rinoa sighed. "You look pretty tired Shiva. Are you sure you don't want to junction with me? I have power to spare."

Shiva smiled gently and shook her head. "Thank you Rinoa, but no. I am sorry but it would…it would not be advisable."

"Because I'm a Sorceress?"

"Yes. Your power is…toxic. In my current state it would be too much for me to handle. I would be consumed." She shuddered. "It's not an experience I prefer to risk."

Seifer had been listening intently to this point, and now sat up as Shiva faded back into a disembodied presence. "Well we're in Deling now. We have our little list. Let's add to it with what we can and then start causing some damage."

"Find a rebellion? In Deling? And how do you propose we do that Seifer? Do you already have a little list of your own-" Squall stopped as a grin spread over Seifer's face.

"Yes." He tapped his head. "I spent two years in this rathole. Two years guarding and shovelling crap for Caraway." He stood. "I didn't waste them."

* * *

"You're still not getting on with him."

Squall turned to look at Rinoa. The two were alone in the small café now. Seifer had gone to make contact with his…well…contact in Deling, leaving the two alone looking out into the twilight of the Galbadian capital.

"Of course not. He's smug, superior, totally under the impression he's in charge…"

Rinoa sighed, in that _I love you but you can be so dense_ way she had with him sometimes. "What did you expect Squall?"

A shrug. "I expected _something_." He could hear the bitterness in his voice but didn't care. "He betrayed us, Rin. He screwed up and ran off and led an _assault_ against Balamb! _He fed you to Adel!"_

"I'm over it."

Squall gaped. "I…_what? _You think two years of light guard duty undercover makes up for everything he did?"

"It's not about the time or the punishment Squall," Rinoa said. "Kiros told me. _He_ went to _them_ Squall. You know after the amnesty for Galbadia-"

"Which was a terrible idea," Squall muttered darkly.

"-_Which_ we had to do Squall. We couldn't have the world locked in hatred for all time. He could have just disappeared for the rest of his life, but he came back and asked to do something, to just make a start at penance." She slid her empty glass away and looked up to meet Squall's eyes. "That's enough for me Squall. Isn't it enough for you?"

A life consumed with overriding conflict between the two men. From the orphanage where Seifer had been if not the strongest than certainly the most wilful of all of them, falling naturally into Garden together and settling instantly into the intense rivalry that had left them both scarred physically and mentally. From there only escalation, from competing Sorceress Knights, to war leaders for their ideologies and finally to the last battle on the Lunatic Pandora. And he had won. But the memories still infested him like a cancer.

"No," he admitted finally. "It isn't." He could see the anger on Rinoa's face.

"Are you actually going to have to kill each other one day? Just to prove who the better man is? Because that's how it will end Squall, we both know it." She leaned back and crossed her arms. "I won't let it happen. I _won't_." She took his hand in her own and stood. "I already made my choice. I chose _you._ Now, let's at least take a look around while we're here."

Squall sighed and allowed himself to be dragged up. "Really? You want to go _sightseeing_?"

"I hear Deling as some beautiful ammo dumps at this time of year."

He smiled. "My little guerrilla princess."

"Believe it."

* * *

"What do _you_ want?"

_I could ask the same question._

"What makes you think I'll tell _you_ of all people?"

_You don't like Guardians, do you Seifer Almasy?_

Seifer spat as he replied. "My memories are my own. I know that now. I let you people tag along with me for too long before I figured that out and I don't want you in them now. Go back to Rinoa's dog."

_You can't go on like this you know._

"Like _what?"_ Seifer lowered his voice as he noticed a couple across the street glance over at him and hurriedly walk off. "I'm nothing like Leonhart, don't act like you know me."

_I know the kind of man you are Seifer. The loyal soldier, thwarted in his dream._

"Is that a fact?"

_So proud, yet so very, very guilty. Led astray for so long by fairytales and stories, now finally forced to wake up and face the world. You want to make up for what you did Almasy but you don't know if you ever can, and it's tearing you apart inside._

"It's such a damn good job for you that you're not out here, because I'd bury my fist in your face in a second," he hissed. "What the hell do you know about guilt?"

_We're the same, you and I._

"We're nothing alike. _Nothing._"

_Are you still in love with her?_

Seifer stopped in the middle of the street and didn't move.

_It never gets easier Seifer. But at least the people you hurt are still alive. Take that small mercy denied me and do your best._

"I don't want a ghost telling me what to do," Seifer said as he turned down an ally. It had been two years but a bad memory had never been one of his failings. He came to the end of the thin walled ally and knocked on the door.

A panel slid aside. "What?"

_Screw this._ He wasn't dealing with some kid playing soldier on top of everything else. "SeeD, here to talk to any rebellion movement you've got about kicking Caraway's ass. Let me in."

The disembodied voice hesitated for a second or so before; "That's a bad joke man, get the hell outta here." The eyehole didn't close though.

Seifer kicked the door angrily. He'd never admit it out loud but the conversation with the ice-bitch had riled him up. "I haven't got time for this. I was watching you amateur sad-sacks for two years and you were terrible at secrecy even back then and you're even worse now if you didn't move HQ in all this time. It's freezing out here so unless you want me to go shout 'REBELLION HERE!' in the main street _let me the hell in!"_

The eyehole slammed shut and Seifer leaned closer as a whispered conversation took part on the other side. Finally the door swung open to reveal a nervous-looking man who peered past Seifer into the street. "Just get the hell in!"

"Finally," Seifer muttered as the door slammed shut behind him. It might have been even colder inside. The pair descended the steps in silence until they reached a small room at the bottom with a single forlorn light bulb illuminating nothing much at all. After a second a dull _thunk_ and a pressure on Seifer told him they must be in an old industrial elevator. _Maybe they're not as dumb as I remember._

"You really a SeeD?"

He looked around at the man. The hope in his eyes was pathetic. "Yeah."

"You fought in the Second Sorceress War?"

"…Something like that."

"Cool." The youth swung the door open to reveal…

_Wow. Not bad._

Men and women scuttled about in the low-ceiling warehouse. Weapons and ammunition were slung over any free surface that wasn't already being taken up by maps and schematics of Galbadian facilities. Seifer saw from a glance that several of the young insurgents were sitting on crates marked as Property of the Galbadian Army and he smirked. The smirk faded fast though, as he saw more and more people glancing around to look at the new arrival. All of them were wary, all of them untrusting, some downright hostile, and-

"Hey I know you!"

_Shit._

Before Seifer or the angry young woman about to accost him could act, a hand fell onto her shoulder, and she instantly deflated as she looked up at the intercessor.

"What's the problem?" a tall man asked. Scars criss-crossed his face and he wore his sidearm with the ease of long-time familiarity.

"Sir, this man-"

The tall thin fighter waved off the girl. "Some other time." He looked around at Seifer. "Took your time didn't you? We've been expecting you for days now." He turned away and gestured for Seifer to follow. Seifer ignored the death-glare on the girl's face and brushed past her to follow.

"We've been busy since you were here. We have quite a little stash now."

"It's not bad," Seifer remarked. "Don't remember you though."

"You wouldn't." The man didn't say anything else. He swung a door open. "We got a new boss since you were last here. This is no joke anymore."

"Tell me about it." Seifer walked through into darkness. The tall scarred man didn't reply; only shut the door behind him with a slam. Instantly he spun around. "Hey!"

"Just a precaution," a voice called quietly. It sounded familiar. Way too familiar.

Seifer fumed. _Damned play-acting brats. _"Well cut the crap and let's talk. I brought some people you're going to want to meet if you people are serious about your little armed group here."

A second voice cut through the black room. "Yeah, we guessed you'd be back here eventually. Thought we'd make sure we had a proper greeting all lined up, y'know." The light flipped on.

For one of the very few times in his life, Seifer was left utterly surprised. "No way."

Raijin stood and went to embrace Seifer as Fujin smiled softly.

"Hey, been a while, y'know!"

* * *

"I don't believe it."

Squall looked around the crowded warehouse, then back at Fujin and Raijin. "This is amazing."

Raijin grinned. "Well, we had some time on our hands y'know."

"We came here a month or so ago and decided to do what we could," Fujin said quietly. She and Squall looked across at the tall man and went on. "Charl came later and helped us establish ourselves a little wider."

The scarred man nodded. He looked military. "There are a lot of young people here who don't follow Caraway's excuses. They just needed some leadership. I helped, but Fujin and Raijin did most of the work." His accent sounded familiar.

"You're from Esthar?" Squall asked, and instantly felt a sharp pain in his side as Rinoa elbowed him.

"It's just so great to see you guys again," she said quickly.

Raijin looked nervous. "Just felt we had a little bit of makin' up to do, y'know?" Fujin nodded in agreement.

"I think we can put that behind us," Squall said. "What were you planning to do next?"

Charl shrugged. "I think we have a target in mind." He turned and gestured to a map.

Squall recognised the landmarks. "This is the main city square?"

"Brings back some memories huh?" Raijin said, ignoring the sharp looks Squall and Seifer gave him. He tapped the central drawing. "Caraway holes up in here now. The mansion's been abandoned for a while so we think he's running the whole show from the Presidential Residence." He threw his arms out to encompass the whole room. "I reckon we have enough firepower to bring it down around his-"

"No."

Everyone looked around at Rinoa. She looked back defiantly. "We can't just start shooting up the city."

Seifer grimaced. "Rin I hate to mention this but-"

"_No_. That place is surrounded by people. We're not going to turn into them. We're not going to kill people just because it's _convenient._"

"Then what do you propose ma'am?" Charl said.

"I…don't know yet."

The man leaned in closer and whispered. "Your reputation goes before you Ms Heartilly. The world owes you and your comrades a great debt. But with all due respect to you and your partners, these are some very angry people in this organisation, and they want to do _something_."

"A small team," Seifer said loudly. He smiled as all eyes turned to him. "We don't need an army right now. An army wouldn't do you any good." _Shiva? If you would._

Gasps sounded in the room and several of the closer youths backed away hurriedly as Shiva materialised. Even weak as she was she was taller than anybody else in the room save Charl, and her imperious presence was diminished not a bit.

Seifer put all the disdain he could manage into his voice. "Right now if you tried anything you'd be smashed to ribbons. You think this one woman is scary? Caraway has a dozen monsters he can throw at you." He sneered. "Take down his HQ? You wouldn't make it to the front gates."

Raijin coughed. "Can y'all give us some space?" There was a bustle as everybody suddenly found other things to do, and Raijin led them back into the small command room. When the lights had been off it had looked like a real cloak-and-dagger operation. With the lights turned on it was merely squalid. _They're running a rebellion out of a wooden shack_, Squall thought.

"What do you suggest?" Fujin whispered.

"There're some people in the city. More important than Caraway." Squall explained about the Two.

"You think these two people are controlling the Espers?" Fujin asked.

"Yes," Shiva said simply.

"We know that the Espers need them to maintain power in the physical world at least," Rinoa expanded. "If we could destroy them it would make them much less dangerous at least. Maybe force them out of the world entirely at best."

Raijin banged his fist on the upturned crate. "Then hell, let's take 'em out!"

Squall shook his head. "We don't even know where they are. They could be anywhere in the wor-"

"I know where they are." They all looked around at Fujin. "The woman has left the city, several days ago."

Raijin looked in shock at his old friend. "Y'_knew_?"

The woman shrugged. "We keep tabs on everyone in Galbadia. I recognise the descriptions. We thought they were advisors."

"What about the man?" Squall asked. _If Tisiphone isn't here…If they're separated…_

"The man is here, in Deling."

Seifer laughed as Rinoa stood up. "But that's perfect! If we can destroy him that would be…" she laughed. "That _would_ be perfect. Shiva, could you-"

Rinoa stopped as she saw the look on Shiva's face. Her usual calm demeanour was twisted by anger into something she'd never seen before. Something utterly alien. "_Yes._ I could kill him." She looked up at Fujin, and the woman took an involuntary step back. "_Where is he?"_

Raijin smiled. "Guess."

* * *

They faced the imposing bulk of the Presidential Residence.

"Up we go."

Squall winced as Rinoa threw herself over the wall. He waited for what seemed like minutes before-

"It's fine here, come on over."

Squall and Seifer vaulted up and balanced precariously on the ledge before dropping down with her. He pushed himself as low as he could before glancing back down to the ground. "We're alright."

The trio paused on top of the sub-building. Raijin and Fujin had given them what they could spare, and Squall had waved off the offer of manpower. _Three people will get in. An army will get caught._

"What now?" Seifer asked.

Rinoa gestured up. "This way."

They climbed up the side of the Presidential Residence as Rinoa recalled route she had taken all those years ago. Nothing had changed.

_That simple huh?_ Charl had asked. _Just run up, take out this one guy, and the war just shuts down like we yanked a toy's wires out?_

_No,_ Squall had replied testily. _But we can remove one of its batteries at least._

An hour later and Squall finally reached out to the next handhold and felt only air. He hauled himself up and stopped on the roof of the building to catch his breath.

"It's all…downhill from…here," Rinoa gasped as the two men removed their gunblades from the sheaths slung on their backs. They went the rest of the way in silence as they worked around to the door into the palatial estate.

_Too many memories._ Rinoa's first encounter with Edea Kramer had been in here. She'd walked in like she was the hero of some cartoon show and ended up trapped and helpless, at the mercy of the possessed Sorceress. The massive double doors leading inside were still the same. Even the statues Edea had commanded to come alive and attack her were back, as if nothing had ever happened. She gestured into the room as she walked ahead. "The way down into the main building is through-" She never got a chance to finish the sentence.

The doors slammed shut so fast Rinoa was still talking when they snapped shut. Squall and Seifer were slightly faster and they had barely managed to draw their weapons.

"_RIN!"_

Squall thrust the blade as hard as he could into the barely-visible gap, but the blade just bounced off. He was already drawing back for another strike when he felt a hand on his arm and turned to snarl at Seifer. _"What?"_

"We can't stay here! It's a trap, they'll be on us any second!"

"I'm not leaving Rin in there!"

Seifer spat and turned to leave. "Fine then, stay and die here but don't blame me!" Without any further talk he ran off into the shadows.

_He's right Squall, find another way in. You're no go_od to her dead or captured," Shiva said as she shimmered into physicality.

Trapped between his training and instincts telling him to _run, run, get away_ and his heart screaming to bash down the door and _find Rinoa_, he finally relented. Cursing every step, he ran.

* * *

She stared ahead as she walked calmly forwards towards the dais. The massive ornate chair was still in place, diaphanous curtains giving the room the hazy air of smoke she remembered so well. Only this time, the person in the chair was not a woman, but a man.

"Miss Heartilly. I think it's time we had a talk, don't you?"

A man in black.

* * *

Merry Xmas everyone!

NOTHING STOPS THE UPDATE SCHEDULE!

-Cobray


	20. The Beast that Cried Alaya

"I wouldn't do that if I was you."

Rinoa paused as she heard the _swish _of movement behind curtains and glanced to her side. What appeared to be a massive ornately-carved suit of dull yellow-and-blue armour adjusted the large metal jug on its shoulder, its contents sloshing. Rinoa can't see what's inside but the stench emanating from the ewer is enough.

"I'm not so stupid to leave just one guard for the capital," Melanthios sneered. "Try and use any of your fancy Sorceress power and what's in that little jug will make breathing a whole lot more difficult."

Rinoa forced back down the power welling up in reaction to her anger and tried to stay calm while her heart shouted _find Squall find Squall find Squall. _"What do you want?"

"Ah, excellent. Some sense. I had hoped at least _some_ of you people would be amenable to reason." Rinoa walked further into the room as Melanthios talked, the giant armoured Esper following closely behind. She stood in front of the throne. "I thought we could talk free from the interference of your little knights."

_He wants something. Stall. _"What do you think we could possibly talk about?" Rinoa asked.

Melanthios waved his hands to encompass the room. "The conversation I started with your friend Ms Tyyne. I'd like to finish it."

She felt the power rise again, ready at a moment's notice to break through the surface and lay waste to the building, the street, the entire city if only she wished it, and it took a physical effort to push it back down. "Don't you _dare_ talk about Xu or I'll blast you right here. Esper or no!"

The man in black acted as though she hadn't said anything more threatening than the weather. "We were talking about the war. More specifically; the aftermath."

"The aftermath is we drive you back into the darkness you came from." Sparks flew from her fingertips. _Lock it down Rin. Think of Squall. Lock it _down.

Melanthios sighed. "Yes, I've heard firsthand your specie's optimism before. But on what do you base it? Not even the great and mighty Esthar could withstand us if we attacked all at once. You have nothing."

"We have Garden, and SeeD, and our friends," Rinoa said. "That's all we need."

"It's really not." Melanthios raised a hand. _Come now, be reasonable_. "You rely upon your Guardians for power, like savages waving flaming branches to ward off the lions. But fire destroys its fuel source if not renewed with fresh wood, Rinoa. They have nowhere to go, we own their gateway, we patrol the walls of their ramparts- Have they even told you this much?"

"Of course," Rinoa said. But there was a lone note of hesitation in her voice and Melanthios jumped on it like a cat onto a mouse.

"They'll burn you eventually, Rinoa. Not _you_ of course, or the redoubtable Ms Trepe, or a few other poor souls scattered across the globe gifted with their own source of power. But your friends and family, your precious Garden. When the prana they bring with them and suck from the air to live on is used up, they'll start on your very souls." He leaned back in the metal throne with a satisfied smirk on his face, as if he were a teacher corrected a student. "Eventually they will either burn themselves out and fade away, or will consume you in their hunger to live." He shrugged. "And when they're dead or trapped in their fragile city humanity will have nothing. You and your Guardianfucker friend won't be enough to stop us then."

"_ENOUGH!"_ Rinoa shouted. "Just tell me what you want!"

Melanthios frowned, as if Rinoa had asked him the answer to a children's simple riddle.

"The world, of course. What else is there?"

* * *

They were not Galbadian soldiers anymore.

"Behind you!"

Squall swung around and swung as he did so, neatly slicing the Galbadian figure in two at the waist. Instead of crying out in pain or dropping, the man just stared at him in shock and denial as he fell, dead before he hit the ground. This was not Squall's first kill of the night and he did not turn to find a new target. Not just yet.

The shadow rose up as the man fell. Squall stepped back as it swung its black blade at him and it carved a path through the air. Dodging forwards he slashed once with perfect precision and the shadowguard went the way of its material counterpart.

It had started minutes after the doors had slammed shut between Squall and Rinoa. The Galbadian soldiers had been altered in some way, their shadows literally coming alive to attack even as the men fell dead before the SeeD's blades. Squall and Seifer's weapons were perfect for close-in fighting, and they were cutting a swathe through Melanthios' troops.

"How are you doing over there?" Seifer cut down two of his own in quick succession and moved swiftly aside to let a shower of bullets pass by him. "I think they're running out." He was barely out of breath, revelling in the battle.

Shiva didn't even bother to dodge. The blade of the unlucky Galbadian who had swung at her froze and shattered the second it touched her, she batted the man away and he crumpled against the wall, shards chipping off as he hit the ground frozen. "We're being distracted." She raised a hand and bullets pattered harmlessly against the ice shield that formed from her palm.

_Find Rinoa._ "We have to keep moving!" Squall shouted as another Galbadian charged him, bayonet raised. Squall didn't bother, just dodged left and let the man sail past him in surprise, slamming the side of his gunblade into his head as he ran past.

Shiva seemed to reach his thoughts. "Rinoa will not be able to use her Sorceress powers within Deling while Espers are close." She pointed. "I can feel a strong presence, in this direction. It is a second Esper. If the worldshell controlling it is nearby-"

"He wanted Rinoa separate from the rest of us. He's there." _If he so much as touches her I swear to Hyne…_

Squall felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to shrug off Shiva's sympathy when-

"She'll be fine Squall," Seifer said. "She's tougher than either of us when she has something to fight for."

"I…I know," he replied in shock. _Is this what she meant? Maybe people can change._

"Now let's go. I'd rather not spend the rest of my life in this ridiculous building."

The sound of footsteps echoed behind them as they ran through the darkened and increasingly blood-soaked walls of the palace.

And the shadows followed.

* * *

"Why would I ever think of making a deal with you?" Rinoa said calmly.

"For your friend's lives." Melanthios stood and approached her, and Rinoa suppressed the urge to retreat. Not least because she would have walked backwards into the Esper. "Because I'll kill them if you don't. Oh, I know it would take a while. Garden is very well defended, but eventually we would manage it, even if I had to send every Esper in creation at you." He held out a hand as if inviting her to dance. "SeeD was a neutral force. It can be again."

Rinoa stared down at it. She was no longer the little girl she had been when she had been running with the Owls, just a spoilt rich brat rebelling against daddy by dressing up in revolution. Since then she had spent years at the Garden. Squall and Zell had taught her to fight. Selphie and Irvine had taught her patience and how to choose her moment. Quistis had taught her to think. She had learned from the best, and she used that learning now.

"Does your comrade know you're making this offer?"

It was barely a millisecond, but Rinoa was watching for it, and she could have punched the air in triumph. For one instant the confidant and immaculate mask Melanthios wore slipped, and for that moment she saw through the human mask to the black and plotting creature he was, formed out of nothing and sent out to murder.

His voice was without human emotion or inflection. "No."

Rinoa felt the Esper move closer behind her and fought the rising panic and anger and above all the power that _demanded_ to flow out and smash through her enemies. "What if she were to find out you were dealing with the enemy?"

The man in black hissed. "My sister would burn your world to the ground without a second thought and then throw herself into the void happily, her mission complete. You are lucky, little ape, that I am not so impulsive or so stupid." He stepped closer. He wasn't a tall man, but his presence seemed to tower over the young woman. "This is your one chance, Heartilly." He gave a small grin. "We have our agent within your little apiary even now. With a thought I can make her kill, and I will, if you don't accept my offer. Think of it, can even the Garden survive, if a few Espers were to appear in it's very heart?"

But Rinoa only smiled. "Almas isn't yours, Melanthios. She never was. Whoever she is, she's nothing like you. She's a SeeD. Go ahead, try and command her now."

Melanthios paused. The seconds dragged out. Suddenly a look almost like shock appeared on his face. "I…what…"

"You're wrong, by the way. You're _exactly_ as stupid as your sister."

The Esper stepped back as the shadow under Melanthios' feet expanded. It ran up the walls and threatened to cover the room with itself. _"_You can rule aside us or you can fall with your friends, Sorceress. Make your choice."

Rinoa smiled. "You sound desperate, Melanthios. Is there something here you're not telling me? Is your little plan running on a tight schedule? Are you running out of time?" A flash of insight came to her but she buried it. _Not now. Later. Tell Squall. Get out of here._

She spat. The first person she had ever hated enough to do it to. Not even her own father. "We'll destroy your Espers and take back our world."

He jerked back as if physically struck, and when next he spoke there was nothing approaching humanity in his voice. "_So be it."_

He screeched, a massive, inhuman scream that reverberated from the walls and ran down Rinoa's spine to her feet. The shadows came from the walls and angled down, shaping and sharpening into points. But even as they did so she was ready. All she had to do was…

Release.

* * *

"I think we did it."

Squall looked around as the Galbadian assault paused. He watched warily as the closest soldier to him stopped his charge, grabbed his helmet and started to shake his head in confusion. Before the man could gather his wits Squall pistol-whipped him and turned to Seifer. "This doesn't seem right. Whatever power Melanthios gave them he's taken back."

"Maybe not." Seifer brightened up. "Maybe Rinoa took care of him for us-"

There was no warning.

They were thrown into the air when the shockwave hit. Squall grabbed for the closest tapestry and managed to prevent his fall but Seifer wasn't so lucky, smashing his head against the metal of the corridor. Without thinking Squall offered his hand to the man, who pulled himself up.

"Wh…what the hell? Did they have a self-destruct in here? Because if so…"

But Squall wasn't really listening. "That wasn't natural." He felt goosebumps on his arms. "_GET DOWN!"_

They dropped to the floor as the second shockwave hit. The ceiling almost collapsed onto them and they staggered to their feet and ran.

"I hope you know what the hell you're doing Leonhart!" Seifer shouted in as they ran.

"It's Rinoa!"

"_That_ was Rin-"

Squall smashed through the wooden door as the corridor finally gave up behind them and collapsed, smashing and burying anyone unlucky enough to still be inside.

"It's Rinoa, I know it. She's using her powers." Squall brushed dust off his jacket.

Seifer looked unconvinced. "You can tell?"

"I can tell."

* * *

"_I…wow."_

_Zell looked open mouthed at the new crater where seconds ago there had been a small hill._

"_I thought we understood, but…" Quistis whispered._

_Edea smiled and lightly grasped Rinoa's hand. The younger woman was staring ahead at the devastation. _

"I_ did that?"_

_They had found the island during the Second War. The Ragnarok had landed on the outskirts and they had travelled inland for a day until Edea had proclaimed it far enough to safely practise._

_Edea had been explicit and direct. _You have to learn control, Rinoa,_ she had said as the Ragnarok flew across the ocean._ These powers are dangerous. They have a life of their own and they will hurt those you love most unless you bend them to your will. Sorcery is nothing like the para-magic taught at Garden. It grows and feeds on itself as it is passed down. Humanity gave it birth and like its parent it can be cruel and arbitrary in its target.

It is dangerous.

"_You…really think I can learn?"_

_Edea Kramer smiled softly. "Of course I do dear."_

* * *

Faster than Rinoa could follow the shadows collapsed from the walls and ceiling and re-formed into a dark barrier seconds before her barrage struck the man in black. They strained under the magical pressure for what seemed like minutes but was in reality only a few seconds before they vanished under her assault, but Melanthios was already elsewhere and the energy bolts blasted through the throne behind him, and the walls behind _that_, leaving a massive crater in the room, and the corridor beyond.

Her heart sang with the release as the power coursed through her hands. Years of light use had built up inside her and now she spent it all throwing it at her enemy, this man who threatened the world, who threatened _her friends_.

She felt the presence and flicked a finger backwards, a wall of white forming between her and the massive jar rushing at her head. It bounced harmlessly with a sound like the world's biggest drum being hit and the Esper roared hollowly, using the reflected momentum to swing his flail-like weapon in the other direction and back at her, but useless, useless. Water poured from the ornate urn into the room and Rinoa's feet splashed as she pirouetted to face the magical beast. Blades of light sprung from her fingertips and pierced the massive Esper but _empty nothing inside a suit of armour ignore it find him find the man in black_ it continued to swing at her and she kept the barrier up behind her as she ran forward past the shattered throne to find Melanthios. A shape flitted from one side of the throne and it disintegrated in a blast of light, but Melanthios had dodged the other way, and Rinoa lost him as the water continued to rise, and the roar of the sudden interior ocean distracted her long enough for him to reach a better hiding spot.

"_You'll bring the whole building down on their precious heads Heartilly, is that what you want?"_

Rinoa turned, trying to track the voice as she replied. "Squall and Seifer aren't going to die from a little water."

"_Maybe not, but what about what's _in_ the water?"_

Rinoa cried out in panic and anger as the words sunk in, and she was already turning to run to the door as the torrent ran from the room into the rest of the building. She had kept the memories all this time, and she remembered where all of Deling City's water eventually drained to, the massive reservoirs under the palace itself, and from there straight down.

Into the sewers.

* * *

Shiva stepped back as the water seeped down from the upper levels. She waved a hand and it froze instantly, but the mere act left her feeling even more drained, and still the water came. She didn't have enough power to freeze it all and she cursed herself as she watched. _Not enough. Wasted too much here in the world. Ifrit would laugh if he saw me now._

The Esper reared up, a grotesque bloated form with cancerous skin rising from the water, transforming from the water itself back into its corporeal form. At the top it bore a grinning pierced head with eyes so sunken all that could be seen were two black holes.

"Squall, Seifer. Go, find Rinoa. I will deal with the Esper."

They didn't waste time arguing, or trying to convince her otherwise. Seifer nodded tightly before turning to run. "Win!"

Squall nodded tightly. "Win." He went off to find his woman, and Shiva, Guardian of Ice, was alone in the rising tide with the corrupt Esper. Its voice burbled happily in its throat as it approached her, the water turning slick and oily where the liquid touched its body.

"Come then, creature. I'll send you back to the void whence you came."

She charged.

SCENE BREAK

Melanthios turned and tried to swim against the flow, his voice a constant stream of curses on the unwieldiness of his physical body. He was no longer trying to hide, only escape. His hands found purchase for a second on a wall, but lost it, and he went under.

Rinoa floated on wings of light in the ballroom as the water flowed under her. Whatever anti-flooding measures Deling City must be operating at full capacity under the pressure because the tide was ferocious. She had broken the Esper's assault like paper burning under fire, and it was all the Esper could do to rage at her silently, its legs shattered underneath it as its massive jar broke through walls as he swung it at her. The assault was harmless against her Sorcery-powered shield but the stream rising from the urn had only intensified, and the inside of the building was a bizarre maelstrom. Rinoa had seen several bodies wash past her already and prayed that there had been nobody else in the building.

"_RIN!"_

She turned at the sound of the voice to see Squall struggling at the doorframe into the large ballroom, Seifer behind him gripping whatever he could. "_SQUALL!"_

With a flick of her fingers the two men rose into the air. Rinoa's peripheral vision saw the wound on Seifer's head but she had eyes only for Squall. The SeeD commander looked almost shell-shocked as the disc of light lifted him out of the water and across to her, and the look in his eyes when their hands touched made Rinoa's fears vanish.

He shook his head. Water cascaded from his hair, and shouted to be heard above the roar of the water as his gaze took in the ruined ballroom, the broken and helpless Esper, and Rinoa herself. He frowned. "Where's Melanthios?"

Rinoa shook her head. "Gone!" she shouted over the roar of the water. "Washed into the sewers!"

Seifer gave a hollow laugh. "There are a few hundred tons of metal and moving parts in those sewers. Maybe the gates and lochs will just tear him up!"

Squall shook his head. "I wouldn't count on it." He glanced across and looked at the city through a smashed window. "We have to stop this, Rin!" he shouted at her. "The city'll flood at this rate!"

Rinoa nodded. Without a word she turned to face the Esper. It didn't respond. Whatever emotion or hatred for its captors and successors powered it, it seemed to know what was coming.

The blast shattered it like porcelain. Armour scraps flew in every direction, embedding themselves into the ceiling and walls and bouncing harmlessly from Rinoa's shield. The urn gave one final belch before it broke apart under the assault.

They waited until the maelstrom had subsided before Rinoa lowered the disc. It shimmered in the air and vanished as they touched the sodden floor.

Squall gave a sigh of relief as he put a soaked arm around Rinoa. "You are…amazing."

Seifer kicked something metal across the room. "Well, we finally got up on the scoreboard."

Rinoa laughed in relief, suddenly feeling too heavy, fat too heavy. She collapsed to the floor with a splash. "That's enough…for now." She looked up at Squall. "Squall, I thought of…of something when Melanthios was talking. We have to tell everyone, we have to ask Laguna to…what's wrong?"

Squall shook his head as he tried to stand. Using his gunblade as a support he managed to get almost to his knees before he fell back. "Rinoa, that wasn't the Esper we talked about before."

And finally Rinoa looked around the drenched ballroom.

"Squall, where's Shiva?"

* * *

The fight had taken them down into the sewers, filthy water slopping around their feet as Shiva had desperately fought to keep a steady platform to fight on. But the corrupt one lived in the filth, revelled in it, and its flowing form had broken her icy footholds and smashed her into the walls without pause, massive fists forming to pummel her before dissolving back into the water, until finally she had been washed along into this place, an old half-empty and rotting reservoir, far beneath the surface of the city.

Her left arm hung useless from her side as she stood shakily in the filthy knee-deep water. Guardians didn't bleed. Prana seeped from her wounds and dissipated into the air, a thin stream of life itself vanishing into nothing. In the distance she could feel the heartbeat of a powerful entity. Whether it was the Esper or something else she couldn't tell. It-

She felt the cry of pain and resignation as the Water-Carrier died far above, the shockwave rippling out from the place that might only have been a few hundred feet above her, and felt a grim satisfaction. Let the brave humans take their victory. Take it and run far away. It may as well have been a few hundred miles.

Her opponent roared in anger at the death of its brethren and resumed its assault. The massive hand encircled her remaining good arm and she was thrown across the circular sewer-room, sliding across the floor as the water moved from around her, offering no soft landing as she fell onto the metal floor of the reservoir. The Esper stood over her broken form, and she could see its mouth opening, licking its lips at the feast ahead.

_Is this it? Am I to die here in this rotten city, surrounded by sewer water and drowned rats, devoured by this grotesquery?_

Another part of her, a part she had ignored for millennia, a part beaten into submission by her own guilty conscience and by loyalty to her race and above all by her lord Bahamut, finally made itself heard:

_I deserve it._

"_NO!"_

She felt herself lifted up and swept away on the new tide, the Esper turning away as the new voice bellowed behind it. She could only watch with hazy eyes as a shape whipped around the corner, lightning fast, and buried itself into the Esper's side.

Leviathan's teeth sunk into the Esper's side. Black light and filthy water poured out of the wound as the great sea-serpent reared up in the rapidly-filling reservoir and swung as hard as it could, smashing the Esper into the walls with enough force to dent the metal. A massive hand began to form from the water and attempted to grip Leviathan, but he battered it aside with a loop of his own body and the hand flew apart as the water itself began to purify underneath him. Within seconds the Esper was roaring not in anger but in pain as teeth shredded mercilessly into its body.

"Shiva."

Shiva felt a hand loop itself under her shoulder, and turned as she felt herself hoisted up.

"We have to go," a voice sounded softly near her ear. Shiva nodded as Fujin half-supported and half-dragged the Guardian out of the rising water, and she felt a burst of affection for the young woman who had risked death to come and find her, the Guardian who she had so often fought against in the Second War. _Is this what you first felt Siren?_ She batted the thought out of her head. _No. Not for me._

Water roared and the final essence of the Esper flowed out of the room, seeking escape back to its master. Shiva knew Melanthios must be somewhere down in the sewers with them, but she also knew there was no way she could fight him as she was now.

"I am sorry we took so long," Leviathan said as he lowered his head. "We tracked you down into the sewers but this place is labyrinthine."

"How…" _How did you know?_

Leviathan gave the impression he would have shrugged if he had a body capable of it. "Our first clue was the palace flooding. I offered my services to the young woman as soon as I arrived in the world and we came as soon as we sensed your presence moving downwards rapidly, 'escorted' by one of the enemy."

"Then…stuck here…"

"We are all stuck here, old friend. Only Bahamut and a few others remain in our home." Leviathan's body shimmered, and with a parting word he was gone. "_We will talk more once we have all returned to Garden. It is our home now, for the duration."_

Now that the combat had ended and she could gather her thoughts she could feel it, the slow pulse of power deep beneath the earth. Below her. A pulse she could barely remember, on the edge of her memories. "No, Leviathan, we have to-" _What is it? What are Galbadia keeping down there?_

"Not now, later."

Fujin hoisted Shiva up, and the two women began the long journey to the surface.

* * *

They shivered in the borrowed clothes back at the rebellion HQ. Even Seifer was wrapped in a blanket. Rinoa grasped a mug of something hot like it was the breath of life itself.

"W-w-w-w-we f-f-f-f-aile-d-d-d-d," was all Squall managed.

"We could tell, y'know," Raijin said, ignoring the poisonous looks the trio gave him. "No sign of that guy you wanted so bad. Must still be hidin' in the sewers."

Fujin shook her head. "No sign of the woman either, wherever she went," she said quietly. She paused before continuing. "Leviathan says that the man, at least, will be warier now. We may have missed our chance."

"T-t-t-t-tell that s-s-s-snake to sh-sh-sh-shut up," Seifer hissed angrily through shattering teeth.

Fujin didn't even crack a smile as she replied. "Noted."

Shiva shook her head. She, at least, was not affected by frostbite of hypothermia. "We wasted our time."

Rinoa shook her head. "No!" The others looked around at her and she raised a hand from under the blanket to reveal a small piece of armour. "Th-th-th-_this_ was worth it. We can tell…tell everyone now. They're _not_ gods, or demons. We can kill them." She gained strength as she talked. "We needed something to make people work together, all nations and cities fighting instead of small groups. Do you think a dead Esper will do it?"

"This is our rally cry."

* * *

Melanthios raged through the sewers, shadows coming together and spinning out, metal twisting and buckling, water boiled away to steam as he made the walk back to the ruined palace.

He raged at the Guardian snake who had robbed him of his victory over the hated ice-woman.

He raged at the Sorceress bitch for the irreplaceable loss of one of his few weapons.

He raged at the SeeD scum who dared to thumb their noses at him.

He raged at humanity itself, the insolent apes hidden behind their magical Guardian protectors.

He raged at his plan, come to nothing, destroy the Garden from the inside, and at the girl he had thought one of them, and at whatever idiotic 'loyalty' had proved stronger than shared blood and magic.

He raged at the air itself.

Let Tisiphone find the frozen Garden, and the traitorous bitch hidden there.

Let her burn it to the ground.


	21. Black Ice

"I'd say it's great to see you guys, but…"

Almas was barely listening. The fire in hearth was all her mind registered.

They had stumbled the last few miles to Trabia Garden half-starved and – in one case- delirious with borderline hypothermia. Trabian SeeDs had intercepted them on the drifts as the massive structure had rose into view, rising up from the snows like ghosts. Heavily-armed ghosts. They had been escorted quickly but not unkindly into Trabia, where Leonard had been taken away to see what could be done for his arm, Li following closely behind, and Almas had sought out Selphie and Irvine.

Selphie had hugged Almas like a long-lost friend and insisted on taking her on a tour of the once-ruined Garden, now restored to its former glory. Almas had allowed herself to be led around the massive structure. The Centrans who had built the Trabian Shelter had clearly been intimidated by the sheer hostility of the environment; the massive structure had interior walls proof against even the worst snowstorm. Even in the Galbadian missile strike all those years ago, only the flight halos and outer structure had been ruined. The Shelter itself was untouched and in the peacetime years since Trabia had worked hard and tirelessly to rebuild and its efforts had finally been rewarded only a year ago as the third Garden had carefully and quietly taken its maiden flight.

Selphie turned the blade in her hands and watched it catch the light. "You really think it can do what the Shumi say?"

Alas shot a glance at Irvine before turning back to the fireplace. "Diablos was scared of it. That's good enough for me."

Irvine sighed. "Shame you couldn't have taken care of Kayes back in the Shumi Village."

"We had other things on our mind," Almas said tightly. Leonard had barely made it to Trabia. Slipping in out of consciousness as they made the long and arduous journey, the only blessing had been that it was far too cold for the ruined limb that was his arm to become infected with anything.

The trio were in the headmaster's office. _Selphie's_ office.

_And why not? Nobody else knows Trabia like Sephy does,_ Irvine had said – not a little reproachfully – upon seeing Almas' expression. Selphie had insisted Almas tell her everything that had happened, and she had been a one-woman audience to Irvine's measured, questioning calm. She had _ooh_'d when she'd heard about the Shumi blacksmith, and cursed along with Almas when the tale had reached Kaye's ambush. Then she had asked to see the sword.

"And did _you_ find anything out, Jordin?" Irvine said.

Almas nodded and tapped a finger at her chest. "Yes."

"Anything we can use?" he asked quickly.

"Not like you're hoping sir. It's not some anti-Esper weapon hiding inside me. More like…a blueprint. Something we can use. It's hard to explain. Like a message in a bottle." _A message from beyond time._

"Well, we're glad you made it back here. Even if the sword was all you really found (All _we found?_ Almas seethed quietly) it'll be a great help if we can get it back to Odine. You did good kid."

* * *

"I should have done something."

Leonard looked over at Li, and the expression on her face of sadness and wretchedness would have broken his heart, if it wasn't already so. "You did all you could."

Li stared morosely at the stump where Leonard's left arm used to be. There was nothing that could have been done, the very bones and muscle of the arm squeezed and compacted by fierce gravitational tides into a ruined hulk that had hung from his body. "I should have done _something_."

_Just cut it off,_ Leonard had said tersely to the Trabian doctor. _Get it off me._ "And I'm telling you not to worry so much." He tried a cocky grin. "I can still fire a pistol with one hand."

Li didn't look convinced. Leonard knew she blamed herself for his condition, blamed herself for everything since that day in Dollet. First her best friend; taken by some distant and unsympathetic political machine and used to power the engine of war. Then her father; killed by the same agents of that machine to extend an already-bloated and rotten empire. Her friend returned to her but not as she was; some strange being a part of which would always be beyond her reach now. Her friends were all she had left and even those were tenuous, capable of slipping away in a second if not corralled and watched like a hawk.

"_I need you, Leo,"_ she had admitted, that same day they had kissed in the Balamb corridors. _"You're all I have left."_

"_And you'll always have me," _he had replied instantly. But even an anchor will only keep a ship in the same place in choppy seas, and it won't stop the ship from rolling in the storm.

Their gloomy reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in," Li said before Leo could open his mouth, and it slid open to reveal a heavyset man dressed in the near-mandatory Trabian outfit of SeeD uniform covered by a heavy coat.

"The Headmistress needs your advice," the man said.

Li's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to retort, but before she could Leonard had already put a hand over it. "Tell Headmistress Tilmitt _we'll_ be with her shortly."

Li swung around in shock as the man left. "Leo-"

Leonard pushed Li's hand away from his arm and began to swing himself out of bed. "All hands on deck Li."

"But you can't…"

Dressing with one hand was a skill he'd have to master, and fast. "Where you go, I go." He coughed. "That is, as soon I get some pants on."

Li looked into his eyes and saw that they brooked no argument. "Fine." A small spark returned to her eyes. "Take your time."

"What are you, my nurse now?"

* * *

The sound of gunfire could be heard across the horizon. Trabian pathfinders whittling down the advancing Galbadian troops as they made the long cold slog across the tundra. But all of them knew there were too many to stall the advance, and that was not the only problem. Selphie winced as light flashed in the sky, and thin beams of force rained down onto the landscape, and whatever luckless Trabian SeeD had found himself uncovered and targeted by the Esper that danced through the sky. "I really hope that's the only one of those here," she said wistfully. The Esper had escorted the advancing army from the coastline across the frozen continent, a vengeful light leading the invaders onwards to the sanctuary.

"They must have raced the stormline to get here so fast," Irvine whispered. The heavy clouds were even now rolling in the sky over Garden. He did the maths in his head. If Kayes had radioed in just after the trio's escape from the Shumi, then the Galbadian army must have had this battalion ready to go within the day. Three days since the Shumi escape, less than a few hours since Almas and Co had reached Trabia.

It had been that close.

Of all of them stood on the balcony overlooking the tundra, Selphie looked the grimmest. Irvine put a hand around her shoulder. "It will be fine," he said.

"They just want to knock us down because they can," Selphie whispered. There was bitterness in her voice Irvine only ever heard when the young woman talked about her home's destruction. "We have something they want so they just come and _take_ it."

Almas was painfully aware of why the Galbadians were here. "This is our fault Headmistress, if we had just-"

Selphie shook her head. "Don't worry about it Almas. You're a SeeD, we look after our own." She wiped a stray frozen tear from her face. "We'll protect you all until the end, I promise."

"Is it really important, what you found out in the Shumi village?" Irvine asked.

Almas didn't bother to lie. "Yes." The message sang within her, aching to burst out. But she knew she couldn't. Not yet. "Everyone has to know_, everyone."_

"Can you just tell us what it _is?" _Selphie asked, just a little plaintively.

Almas shook her head. "It's not…that kind of message," she said. "I have to get it to Esthar. Esthar will know what to do with it."

Irvine nodded. "Then we'll make sure you deliver it."

Li felt herself tense, like a string inside her heart being tightened by the mere presence of the ethereal monster near her. One hand had gone automatically to her side, to the _Shai'en_.

"I hope Kayes is with them."

She didn't realise it was her that had spoken until Irvine clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Nah, he's probably way back there, behind the lines with a pair of binoculars. Not like him to get his hands that dirty," he said, dead wrong.

* * *

Kayes was having trouble with Tisiphone's glare. Most people did. She looked at people like there would be no sweeter thing than to reach across and tear a hole in them. In this case it was literally true. He shivered at the cold. And the very recent memory:

_You fail to hunt down a single waylaid brat and her childlike bodyguards and then you crawl for my help? Be warned, you are both on very thin ice with me. We are going to Trabia, to clean up my idiot brother's little failed project and smash their fortress back into the rocks it came from, and I have every anticipation of success._

_We'll be with you in expecting that success ma'am._

_You're going to be with me in every way imaginable._

The rear hatch swung open and a biting wind flew into the metal box on wheels as the man leaned into the metal box on wheels. "We're on final approach now sir."

Without a word or a glance backward the woman in red stormed out into the freezing Trabian air and walked around to face the wind, Kayes following closely behind. The Garden must still have been several dozen miles away, but the flight halos shone in the distance like Christmas lights over a particularly large present.

_Could you at least use a little of that gravity-control you're so proud of? Bend the wind _away_ from us?_ Kayes asked testily.

_No,_ was Diablos curt reply. _We're facing a Garden of trained soldiery; I'm not going to waste my power on keeping you dry._

"You, traitor."

Kayes gave his full attention to the woman. "Yes?" _And screw you._

"Advise us." She waved a hand idly behind at the massed battalion of Galbadian infantry and artillery.

Kayes' mind spun as he desperately tried to remember what he could about the snowbound organisation. "Err…Trabia Garden's strength was always how hard it was to get to. If we can reach it on one piece there should be nothing more than a few students and over-the-hill mercs there. It was always the backwater of the SeeD system. They have no Guardians to defend them, no magic to send out against us." He was getting into a comforting rhythm now. "It's barely operational as a shelter or a war academy. Give it one good kick and the whole thing will fall down," he said confidently.

Dead. Wrong.

* * *

"Let them come."

Selphie stared across the meeting hall, and the SeeDs beyond who had gathered to hear her speak. Apparently war councils in T-Garden were a more communal thing than the measured calm of Balamb's meeting of leaders. Leonard stood in the front row, overcoat hiding the bandaged stump of his arm. Li hovering next to him, more a protective parent than a lover.

"Sephy, are you sure…" Irvine began.

Selphie nodded as she stood on the small raised dais, the breath steaming out of her mouth as she talked. "We're not Balamb, we don't have powerful Guardians to help us, and we're not like Galbadia, we don't have any advanced machinery or numbers on our side." She punched the fireplace. "But Trabians are the toughest people on Earth!"

Irvine could hear approving murmurs coming from behind him. When they had arrived the pair had been feted like returning heroes. Which they were, sort of. But Selphie had practically been carried in on people's shoulders. She had saved the world, and she was one of _them_, no matter she had been helped by some wussy plains-dwellers. She was a Trabian, and _nobody_ was tougher than a Trabian.

Selphie was still talking. "I got through to Sir Laguna earlier. Esthar is sending help but it'll be days before anyone can get here and the storm is going to make any airships unusable. We're on our own until help can arrive." She grew louder as she talked and the audience responded to her. "Squall and Rinoa have been to Deling, and they've met friends there, friends who want to help us, and they've _killed an Esper!_" The whispers increased tenfold at the declaration. "We have to hold out against the Galbadians for a few days. Just a few days!"

"Hell, we'll drive them out ourselves!" an anonymous voice shouted from the front to great assent.

"What about _this_ Esper?" Li asked over the noise. "That thing can bombard us from the air and we have to just sit and take it." She hefted the _Shai'en. _"This thing can't cut jack if it can't reach, and we don't have a Sorceress of our own."

Selphie grinned. "That's the _easy_ part." She tapped the walls of the Garden. "When we rebuilt Trabia Garden after the Galbadians attacked we swore it would never be as bad if there was a next time." The sound of her fist hitting the walls was a dull _thud_. "T-Garden is built heavy now, and we built _outwards_ as well. There's half a mile of corridors and rooms stretching out under the ground that we built to spread people out if there was another attack." She gestured around the room. Even inside most of the SeeDs and cadets were in still in overcoats, and the walls were cold to the touch. A note of anger entered Selphie's voice as she outlined her plan. "We get them inside, where they can't use their cannons, where they have to _fight_ for every scrap of ground they want. T-Garden is ours; let them come in here up-close. That Esper can't kill anything if it can't see anything from above. It'll have to come in here, and then we'll have it, and everything else they send in here."

"We'll bury them in the ice."

* * *

"Send everyone forward," Tisiphone said. "Drive through the frontlines and smash down the gates if you have to." She turned to zero in on Kayes. "You, take your Guardian toy and-"

Diablos unfolded silently into the world, snowflakes diverting their passage around him as he extended his wings. Galbadians nearby edged away nervously, some making the sign of Hyne across their chests, others just looking scared to even be so close to the Guardian. "_I'm not your tame demon, woman,"_ he hissed through his twisted mouth.

With a _smash_ and a billow of snow, the ice Esper descended from the sky and landed between Diablos and Tisiphone, lance pointed straight at Diablos' throat.

"Don't speak to me like that again, creature," Tisiphone whispered, and her whisper carried more menace than her anger. A promise of savage violence only just held in check. "You could advise me just as well if you were a head on a limbless torso you know."

For several seconds the deadlock continued. Icicles whirling around the Esper ready to strike, the air and space itself bending around Diablos, still powerful even junctioned to someone as magically untalented as Kayes.

It would be a close fight.

Diablos folded his wings back up and stepped back. "_Of course,"_ he said. Diablos had blinked first, Kayes would always remember later.

Tisiphone turned back to the Garden. She could almost feel the presence of the interloper. The one like them but not like them, who had tied her colours to the enemy's mast. She felt a red mist descend even thinking about her and the confused signals her existence fed into her brain. An unfortunate legacy of her creation; the need to seek those like herself and the need to rip and destroy and tear everything not. The mission must be fulfilled. Her brother would help, and would be spared (for now). The girl would not, and would die because of it.

"Send the troops in. Tear down the walls," she hissed.

"We'll bury them in the ice."


	22. Nightfall IV

"You know I think I like it out here. You can really see the stars."

Leonard takes Li's hand and points it upwards. "There's almost no civilisation up here. No towns or light pollution."

They were sat on the top of T-Garden's gently-sloping roof, star-gazing. The pinpricks of the Galbadian army is still miles away, with occasional dull explosions sounding as units were split off and eliminated by the Trabian SeeD scouts. Anything for an advantage, time is running out.

Li gave a contented sigh as above them the heavens unrolled. There was so much light they didn't need to bring their own. "I could stay up here forever."

"The headmistress said they always turn the lights off at night so students can come up here." He pointed across the length of the roof and Li could see in the distance a group of other students hoisting a bottle of something probably alcoholic.

Li _tisk_ed. "That doesn't look safe."

"Oh come on, live a little," Almas said as she climbed up to the other two. "Been watching the horizon?" She sat down next to them. "They'll be a couple more days, relax. Look at the sky."

"It _is_ pretty," Leonard said.

"I just feel so…helpless here…" Li said. "I want to be _out_ there."

"Hey, you can have all the Galbadians you want when they actually, you know, reach us," Almas said placating.

But Li's anger was beginning to boil over again. "I just want to make them _pay_…"

"You should watch out for that, it'll get you killed."

The three students tried to stand up and at attention in a mess of tangled limbs as Irvine Kinneas walked up to them.

"Relax kids, just here to check everything's alright. Lots of students going…uhh…'missing' tonight." He looked around the roof. "Guess we found them though."

Almas could see from the corner of her eye that already other people had noticed the man's appearance and were pointing at them. "Anything we can do for you sir?"

Irvine shrugged. "Not really. Want some advice?"

"Sure," Leonard said.

"You, Miss Nuo?"

"Sir," Li said grudgingly.

"Don't worry so much. You guys have enough to deal with right now so don't get worked up about this. Look around you," he said, waving a hand across the other students. "Trabia teaches patience. The first time I came here with Selphie it drove me crazy, nothing out here but rocks and snow, but that's just the way this place is." He coughed. "Wait until the Galbadians get in close. You'll have plenty to do then." He looked directly at Li. "You can spend the rest of your life hating them but it won't make anything better."

"_You_ seem to have mastered that at least," Li said testily. "Sir."

"Don't worry about what you can't change," Irvine replied airily.

"Is that how you dealt with being squashed through time and fighting a Sorceress from the future?" Almas said with a grin.

"Yep."

SCENE BREAK

Quistis pushed the boat off into the choppy waters as Siren looked inland. She hefted the pack off her back and sighed as the weight dropped to the ground. The tablets clunked against one another inside the pack. "We'll stop here. For now"

"We're going to walk at night?" Siren said. _It's hundreds of miles from here to Esthar…_ The geography was against them. Impassable mountains to Esthar's east and south meant a land route was impossible, and the north was impassable.

_Don't worry, I have a plan,_ Quistis had said as they had cast off from that cursed island.

Quistis laid a hand on Siren's shoulder. "Don't worry so much."

Siren shivered. She hadn't heard from any of the other Guardians. Even her innate magical connection to Olesia that guided her home and back again was growing faint. _Good, let it rot and fall away_, she thought vehemently. "We're going to walk at night?"

Quistis shook her head. "We'll camp for now, we've been on that boat for days," she said as she burrowed in her pack and came out with something small and folded. She flicked her wrist and the cloth suddenly billowed out into a small tent.

"Quistis, I really don't think we should stay here," Siren said quietly.

The blonde woman only nodded. "Because there's an Esper here."

"How did you…"

Quistis looked at Siren and smiled. "Because you've been nervous since we left Battleship Island, and you've been checking the sky every few minutes." She brushed a hand across Siren's cheek. "I know you that well." She glanced up. "I think we're safe enough though. If it knew exactly where we were it would be on us, right?" Siren nodded and she smiled back to try and reassure her. "Then we're safe."

"But…"

"We have a long walk ahead of us Siren; we need to get some sleep."

"We're not going to walk to Esthar in a day."

Quistis shook her head. "We're not going to Esthar. Not directly anyway." She went on as Siren looked quizzically at her. "We're going to the old Orphanage. We'll get help from Edea there. Cid too, if he made it back already."

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Quistis asked as the pair lay in the insulated covering, pushed against each other for warmth as the chill sea breeze washed over them.

Siren nodded. She knew she had been changing. This was the longest period she'd ever been away from Olesia. When she had been younger Shiva had always told her to return regularly, if only to replenish herself, but now she didn't bother. She had caught Quistis giving her worried looks from the corners of her eyes, but she had assured her nothing was wrong. She no longer looked inhumanly radiant, and the hair that had once fallen almost to her ankles now swayed at her waist. As she slowly used up her remaining energy she looked less like an ethereal being and more like a human every day.

It was the best feeling she had ever had.

SCENE BREAK

"It feels heavy."

Zell hefted the glove in his hand as Odine watched apprehensively. Another, more prudent observer, would have noticed how the small scientist stood on the balls of his feet, as if ready to turn and run at the first sign of danger.

"Zat is expected, ze metal iz very dense."

Zell gave a few test punches into the bag and it made a satisfying _thunk._

"It's basically just a spiked metalplate on the front of your gloves," Kiros said. "That's another reason we asked you to stay. We want to test the theory on something simple before we start making the remaining store into more complex weaponry for your comrades."

Zell held it up to the light. The magikiller metal seemed to almost undulate as he twisted his hand, throwing off strange shapes in the imperfections. "It's perfect!" he said. "Can't wait to try it out." He deflated slightly. "Still, only one set of gloves…"

Odine shrugged. "Hopefully ze SeeDz will be able to find somezing zat will get us more."

"You really trust this stuff that much?"

"Off course! It is ze fruit of human labour and human technology, not given to us by any 'benevolent' sky-godz. It cannot fail because you do not believe in it enough or some ozzer nonsense!"

Zell looked sceptical. "I don't know doctor, it just seems a little…"

"Hah, you see how ze GFs have chained you to zem! You are shown with your own eyes ze power – _human_ power – to defeat your enemies and you doubt zem!"

Kiros nodded. "Sorry Zell but the doctor's right in this case." He waved a hand out at the city, bustling even at this time of night. "In Esthar we tend to put a little more stock in our own hands than in magic."

"Hey, magic saved our asses a few times back in the Second War. We would never have even reached Esthar all those years ago without it, huh?"

"Or you could have taken an airship, if the rest of the world had bothered to…sorry. Just a little bit of a sore point is all."

The trio looked out of the window at Esthar. To Odine's eyes; a gem of human ingenuity in a world of mediocrity. To Kiros'; a beacon for progress in a stagnant world. To Zell's; a near-magical place where anything was possible.

_Maybe they're right. Maybe this _is_ what the future is._

"We'll win this Zell, and when we do, it won't be because we relied on anyone but ourselves."

SCENE BREAK

Shiva turned as she heard the polite cough next to her. "Squall."

Squall nods curtly and moves to stand at the edge of the room near her. "Shiva." He glanced outside. "Dull night."

Shiva is sat on a collection of empty crates and pallets on the top of the Deling warehouse housing Raijin's rebellion, only days after breaking out of the Residence and going back into hiding in the city. The lamps on the roof have been smashed, but Shiva has covered herself with a long brown cloak anyway. The water from the dead Esper washes through the streets, the sewers overflowed to capacity, but those few officials or night-owls out walking ignore it, thinking it must have been merely a heavy rainfall.

"Rin told me to come up and ask how you were. She wanted me to say that it's warmer inside and- Ah. Whoops."

Shiva gave the man a quick smile. "Indeed. Do I really look that bad Squall?"

She does. Her skin once a brilliant blue has now faded to a dull white, and her hair that always used to remind him of perfect flexible icicles clings limply to her back. The fight in the sewers has drained her almost to capacity. The great Guardian Force looked like a starving waif. "No, you look fine."

"You can be a good liar sometimes Squall, but not often. What's on your mind?"

Squall sat on the edge of the roof and hunkered down against the wind. "I wanted to talk with you."

Shiva sighed and Squall could hear the tiredness in it. "I wanted to talk as well, but I didn't know how to do it."

It felt weird seeing the positions reversed like this. _I'm Rinoa and she's me. The more things change… _Squall made a decision. "Shiva, are we friends?"

The Guardian looks slightly shocked before she answers. "I…I'd like to think so. Yes."

"Friends talk about their worries Shiva. It's a lesson I had to have beaten into me but eventually I learned it." He shrugs. "So let's talk. I guess can what about." (typo here do you mean 'I can guess what about?)

Shiva looked out across the city. "Of course you can." She takes a deep breath. "I didn't tell the whole truth, back in Esthar."

Squall nodded as if this was no surprise. Maybe it wasn't. Humanity was smart, the best of them reaching levels of intellect a Guardian could barely glimpse, let alone scale. Look at Odine. It was their strength.

"What really happened all those years ago Shiva, during the Esper War."

The words came haltingly, like a dam starting to break but still only letting by the merest drip of water. "It was…it was never a real war, Squall." She shook her head.

"It was a massacre."

SCENE BREAK

_She stares down at the pitiful creature. Its home is burned, its family, mate, offspring, friends and village all dead around her, as solid as statues and with the same level of vitality. The Esper lies defeated and broken miles behind her. It had rushed out to defend its master and lure her away from the village, but to no use. She is strong, the power sings through her and after the battle she flies onward and begins._

_But now looking down at the creature she pauses. It is not a monster, merely a competitor. But these are hard times and the world is still a raw place full of danger for her human charges, and these other peoples are just one of those risks. But a risk she can deal with. She focuses her power to strike and even as the thing before her begins to slow as the very atoms in its body are frozen she cannot sense anger or hate. Only confusion and regret. Then after one last thought_

but why

_it dies and she moves on. It doesn't take long. The world is full to the brim with prana, and she can drink it freely whenever she wants, as much as she wants. They all can. They are unstoppable. The primitive humans fete them like Gods and they may as well be. _

_She leaves once the job is done, ignoring the Esper as something broken and unworthy of her time. There are other villages, other places to visit and rain death upon. She meets up with her companions. There are not many of them but they are strong, they have a mission, and they have a job to do. People to guard. They sing to each other across the sky as they travel the world. Their City is new and growing, their place in the world assured, and they are utterly confident in themselves._

_The regret does not come until later._

_Far later._

_Far too late._

SCENE BREAK

"Do you hate me, Squall?"

There was nothing but silence on the rooftop for a minute or two, only sounds from street level drifting up towards them. Then, finally:

"I don't…want to," Squall said. He looked lost. "But I don't…I mean…"

The words have begun to spill out faster as the dam finally breaks. "We were young back then, just children, and we had a mission; to protect humans. We didn't find out _why_ we felt we needed to do that so strongly until later, when Leviathan was born – he was always the smartest, always the one who thought about that kind of thing – and by then it didn't matter, the other race was all dead and humanity had the world to itself."

"But _why_?" Squall almost shouts.

"Prana…magic's not some infinite source Squall. There's only so much of it in the world and it regenerates so, so slowly. Even back then when there was so much of it we could tell it wouldn't last forever."

"You were afraid," Squall said tightly. "You were afraid this other race of intelligent life would use it all up."

"They were _real_ magic users Squall. Humanity always got along by its brains and tools but _they_ were…" she shook her head and sighed. "They were something else entirely. They used it for everything. They _breathed_ it." Her shoulder slumped like a weight had been placed on her. "We didn't want to fade away and die."

"And the Espers? Why didn't you just kill them when you had the chance?"

Shiva shook her head. "Bahamut's plan. Alexander suggested it. Alexander wanted to show mercy to them, they were already defeated. Bahamut just wanted to find a way to…use…them. After the Ancestors had died."

"Ancestors?"

"That's what the humans we served back then called the other peoples. We wanted to contain the Espers until we could find a way to use them somehow. They were _alive_ Squall, like us: Living embodiments of magic. So we put them inside a pocket dimension – Diablos' work – and made sure there was no exit until we could find out what to do. We built it and put them inside."

"A prison," he finished for her. "You killed their masters and then locked the Espers in an eternal prison for thousands of years." He leaned against the roof and rubbed his eyes with a hand, as if he could erase the knowledge inside his mind with the act. Finally he looked back at her. "I don't…I don't know what to think, Shiva."

"We did it for _you_."

"And you did a great job," he hissed. He stopped and sighed. He looked tired. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"No, I did. Millions died Squall. We killed them. Now their ghosts are back for revenge. It's a horrible thing you're suffering and it's our own fault."

Squall stood. "We all make mistakes Shiva. I can't pretend I have the right to forgive you. Maybe nobody does."

"Alexander said the same thing, before he…left. He never really forgave himself for what he helped plan." She sighed at the memory of her vanished brother. "Always others, but never himself." _And maybe he was right. But he could never resist a cry for help Squall. He came back for you, when you asked._

_I miss him so much._

They both looked around as the hatch to the roof swung open and Rinoa and Seifer climbed out. Rinoa's eyes locked onto Squall and he could see she was excited about something. "What is it?"

"Squall ," Rinoa said, "I thought of something, when I saw Melanthios in Deling. I didn't tell you then because…well...but now I've had time to think and it _still_ makes sense."

"What is it Rin?"

"Shiva said that Melanthios and Tisiphone were worldshells, bodies created in the physical world but infused with life by magic." Shiva nodded as Rinoa talked. "Magic spells and creatures can't be maintained in the physical world without a constant stream of power. Guardians use the prana in the air to maintain their basic body, right?"

"…Right," Shiva said warily.

"But you get your power mainly from humans you junction to! So that means…"

"If the Two are maintaining the Espers in the physical world…" Shiva began. "That must be quite a power sink. They must have incredible reserves of power to keep them from returning to…"

"But who's renewing _their_ power and keeping their bodies from just…breaking down?" Rinoa finished excitedly.

"Maybe it's nothing." Seifer said as understanding dawned. "Maybe they're on a stricter timetable than we thought."

"Maybe they don't have any time at all."

SCENE BREAK

SCENE BREAK

"You have betrayed us."

Melanthios turned from the darkened window and stared across the length of the room at Caraway. "Excuse me?"

Caraway fumed. "You said you had a plan to destroy Garden. You knew a way to kill the Guardians and disable SeeD. Now there has been an attack in the heart of _my_ city! What the hell are you playing at?"

_You really are a stupid man._ The man in black sighed in frustration."Nothing has happened I haven't anticipated-"

"Did you anticipate SeeD sneaking into the city, laying waste to the President's home and _killing an Esper_? Did you anticipate one of their Guardian monsters coming so close to your little project you have hidden down there? _Did you!_"

"Shut _up_." Instantly the room went black as shadows covered it from wall to ceiling. Melanthios stalked towards Caraway and leaned over the desk at the man. "Is this all the courage you have general? You want Galbadian supremacy over the world but only so long as your precious city isn't damaged?"

"I want-"

"Soon you will be able to rule from the Esthar President's office if you so wish. Don't let's argue over trivialities. We promised you the world. Already an entire continent. Trabia will fall before long and the Garden cannot hide forever. All this we have given you."

The threat lay between them. _Don't forget who got you this far_. _What we've given we can take away._

Caraway stared daggers at Melanthios. "I fulfilled my end of the bargain. Don't forget yours."

His patience, on edge since the disastrous meeting with the Sorceress, snapped. "_Your end of the bargain was a formality. We want the world and we chose you as the lucky winner,"_ he snarled, his voice twisted out of all recognition. "_Don't forget who's holding the reigns general."_

Caraway leaned back. He looked past Melanthios to the men on either side of the door. "Guards, arrest this man."

Who took not one step forward.

"Do you understand now Caraway?" Melanthios said, now with the calm that control over others gave him. Tisiphone fed on rage, it sustained her like air and water. His own poison was harder to come by but no less satisfying. "Galbadia will do what we tell it. You're welcome to come along and make your speeches."

There was real hatred in Caraway's eyes now, with the defiance that only utter despair can tinge. "I'd rather die here than see Galbadia ruled by your monsters."

The man in black smiled. "Guards," he said, keeping eye contact with Caraway. "The secretary-general is making an unscheduled visit to the Galbadia Garden. Please escort him."

Fury Caraway could do nothing but watch as the men came up to him and motioned for him to follow with '_this way sir'_s. "We'll just see about this."

"No, we won't."

Melanthios waited until everyone had left before he relaxed. He felt his body creak as he lowered it into the chair behind Caraway's desk. He could feel it cracking under him. The battle with the Sorceress had been an intolerable waste of energy, and every second the Espers drained more from him as they walked the Earth. He had handed over control and ownership of them all to Tisiphone and her greater prana stores, only keeping one to guard his own person, and even that was a constant drain on his reserves. Cavernously deep, but getting shallower every day.

He lifted a hand and stared at it, clenching and unclenching. He cursed the god who had put him in this situation. This weak mockery of a human form that aged and cracked like a doll.

He thought about the lab under the sewers, and the project that awaited him there. _Who_ awaited him there. His own survival.

_Just give me time enough to bend this world to my knee._

_All I need is a little more time._

SCENE BREAK

A week passed, days flying by for the cowed populace now under Galbadian occupation and trying to combine their old lives with the new order.

Squall, Rinoa, Seifer and Shiva made plans underneath Deling City for rebellion.

Selphie, Irvine, Almas, Li and Leonard stood watch from Trabia Garden, fortifying, sortieing and whittling down the approaching attack as long and as hard as they could. Maybe the attack would be manageable by the time it reached them. Maybe.

Quistis and Siren transverse Centra, crossing the dead continent and headed for the SeeD's ancient home, and the woman - her mother by heart if not by birth - waiting for her. And another.

Zell in Esthar, helping a nation devoted to science and the progress of humanity prepare for war.

Melanthios staring out, across the dark expanse of the sunken laboratory, staring across at the massive steel creature in front of him, making plans and backup plans as he can feel his body atrophy away from under him.

Time halts for no-one.

* * *

FFnet is having a lot of fun with my documents today apparently.

Happy new year everyone!

~Cobray


	23. Cold and Blood

Three days and nights the battle raged between the Galbadian Army and Trabia Garden.

Three days of shifting battle lines as winding corridors and barricades were overtaken and re-taken by the soldiers. One side fighting desperately to protect their home from tyranny, the other desperate to capture it before the encroaching winter destroyed their supplies and left them stranded a hostile ocean away from home.

Three days of bloodshed as old retired soldiers cross the frozen wastes, slipping past the regiment of disparate guards between them and their alma mater, disrupting machinery and ambushing unwary youths. Selphie's message has gone out, snuck past the Galbadians across ice ridges and paths the Galbadians could pass within inches of and not notice. The sons and daughters of Trabia have come home, rallied around the small young woman whose heart burns with the cold fire of truth and justice.

The invaders cower in their APCs between assaults and scouting parties. Their training has taught them to fight in jungles and cities, and they are unprepared for the ferocity with which Trabia assaults them, air like daggers and a featureless land that swallows all signs of progress and can strand a man in a white abyss within seconds.

Both sides are whittled down as the fight moves from the tundra to the Garden's walls, to the underground labyrinth Selphie had described. Galbadians move through the cold and silent corridors as Trabian SeeDs and cadets seem to form out of nothing, striking and fading back into the ice walls before anyone can react. But luck and those few who survive long enough to learn and lose the novice skills they have learned back in their homes adapt. Clumsy and permeable armour is discarded in favour of coats taken from corpses, blue cloth torn from their useless fatigues used in lieu of badges or rank. The odds even as Trabians begin to fall, either hunted down through winding corridors or caught trapped with no place to go or victims of simple carelessness as fatigue from an endless battle overtakes them.

By the end of the fourth day neither side would recognise the other as Trabian or Galbadian as blood-spattered clothing becomes the norm, and their eyes just cold and hard as the fight moves underground into the Centran Shelter itself. Supplies are moved and shifted and not quite, not quite destroyed, and suddenly T-SeeD is fighting a war against their own walls, and they are outside. Those left on the surface are forgotten or left to die in the wastes.

The fifth day. Winter has come.

* * *

"I didn't think it could get any colder," Almas said through clenched hands as she walked, trying to breathe warm air across her freezing digits. On the first day she had politely refused the offer of a Trabian overcoat, thinking the cold wasn't that much. After an hour in the tunnels under the Garden she had quickly swallowed her pride. Under the ground no heat permeated from above, and the cold ran bone-deep.

Irvine grinned, his breath steaming out into the air. He had made the same mistake his first Trabian winter. Misery loves company. "You think it's cold _now_? Wait until it _really_ sets in."

"You mean it gets _worse?"_

The pair were hiding in a small room within a maze of corridors, hidden deep within the ground. Irvine didn't seem to be having any problems with the enclosed space but to Almas it felt too much like a tomb to be comfortable. In the last four days she'd met young SeeD cadets who stared at her in wide-eyed admiration before going off to fight, and watched their friends bring them back wounded or worse hours later.

Irvine wouldn't admit to the young girl sat opposite him but he was worried. Selphie had taken Li and went off somewhere, and hadn't told him where. That had been yesterday. Communications between the disparate cells of SeeD fighters had been sketchy from the start, walls of ice and rock blocking any communication as effectively as if Esthar was beaming jamming directly at them.

On the second day it had gotten worse.

Walls covered in swathes of blood shaped like men. Patrols and foraging parties went out and didn't return, or returned in pieces, limbs torn off or ruined or simply gone, as if the person had put their arm through a mangler.

Death stalked Trabia Garden.

* * *

"_Where's the girl?"_

Diablos looked down at the terrified soldier, barely old enough to hold the gun in his hands. His hands were already stained with blood and although he has been conserving power wherever he can the toll of constant vigilance has begun to wear on his reserves and Kayes is no help. Accidental contact followed by swift and brutal death, either crushed by gravity into unrecognisable piles of offal or left crippled and allowed to leave as a warning to others. Lately the warnings have been fewer. His patience, never at high levels, had been ground down to a fine veneer of civility with his allies, and to nothing except swift brutality with his enemies.

_Sent here to guard the ape like a faithful dog._

_You'll pay for this one day 'my lord'._

He looked around as a familiar voice coughed politely to see Kayes standing behind him. _"What?"_

The man smiled without humour. "I have something." He holds up a bloodstained piece of paper and waves it. His coat is just as bloodstained as Diablos' chitin. "Finish up and help me find Tisiphone, I have to give her this."

"We've found Tilmitt."

"_About time."_ With a thought it was done. As Diablos turned away and vanished, wrapping light around himself and Kayes to travel through the corridors of the Trabian maze, the only thing left to mark his presence was another crushed and bloodstained wall.

* * *

"You realise of course, that we look like the people our mothers warned us about."

Leonard chuckled. Physical differences between the SeeDs had melted away after more than a day's fighting underground, and now everyone looked the same; coats pulled tight to expose as little as possible to the freezing air, eyes drawn to slits and shifting constantly at any sign of movement.

He was already turning, pistol in hand, as a door creaked open slowly beside him, and relaxed as Li came into the hall. They were pretty sure Galbadia hadn't found this place already but they weren't taking any chances.

_I'm coming with you._

_No, you're not. You're staying here and holding the fort down._

_But-_

_So help me I'll tell Almas to _hold_ you here if you argue. I'm not losing you to your own dumb machismo._

"They're coming," Li said breathlessly.

Curses sounded out from the group. Leonard was the only person who had seen combat before the invasion, but over the last ninety-six hours everyone still alive had proven their worth. Instantly they were on their feet and moving.

Leo caught up to Li as they walked. "Problems?"

Li stared intently ahead. "We're running out of places to hide. Ammo too." The _Shai'en_ hung loosely in her arm, ready to be brought up in a millisecond's notice. Li was the only person in the Garden with a weapon capable of harming Diablos, and it was she who more often than not was the first to come across his victims. Messages scrawled in blood.

_SURRENDER THE GIRL_

_Over our dead bodies,_ she had carved into the walls with the magikiller blade in return. After that the cold war between the two had bloomed. They despised each other.

"Esthar will be here any day now, we just have to- _DOWN_."

Leonard's hand acted before he realised had shouted and he had already dragged Li down behind the exposed pipes and metalwork of the corridors as the Galbadians crouched across the warehouse-sized chamber opened fire.

Li pivoted as she dropped, already reaching behind her for a borrowed throwing knife and throwing it. It made a satisfying _thunk_ as it slammed into the chest of the Galbadian irregular who had tried to rush them from the other side while they were distracted.

"We're too damn close to the Shelter!" Li hissed over the gunfire. Galbadia had taken it as their own as SeeD had been driven into the surrounding ice. Only their lack of training or experience had stopped them picking up the Garden itself and flying it away.

The zing of ricochets across the metal walls was deafening as bullets bounced across the room. "We have to get out of this place." Leonard tried to stand but fell back as a bullet grazed far too close for comfort. The steady attrition of the weak, slow-learning or just plain unlucky had worked in the Galbadian's favour as much as their own.

Li reached a decision. "This way." She turned to the SeeD escorts, who merely nodded.

"We've got your back."

Li almost dragged Leonard away as they crawled back the way they had came, and started running, only stopping when the gunfire had faded to a dull pounding in the distance.

"What now?" Leo asked.

"We go inward."

"Alright, lead the- wait, what?"

* * *

"_We can move Garden," Selphie said._

_Li blinked, as if the words can momentarily short-circuited her brain. "Err…"_

"_The Shelter's full of Galbadians, Sephy. Not to mention Diablos running around like a smart-bomb anywhere we try and push forward," Irvine said calmly. "Even if you _could_ get us up how would that help us exactly if we're all outside?"_

_Sephy turned him and smiled. "We have a plan." She waved her hands to head off Irvine's inevitable 'we?'._

_Irvine stepped back as a small green blur appeared silently. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."_

"_Hi IrViNe!"_

"_You brought _him_?" He turned to look at Carbuncle. "Does Shiva know you're here?"_

"_NoOoO! iT's A sEcReT! dOn'T tElL hEr!"_

"_I'm going to use Carbuncle to stay hidden while we prep T-Garden for liftoff, and then we can just blast the Galbadians out anytime we want and fly outta here."_

_Li coughed nervously. Even after the days of close proximity she still had trouble addressing Selphie as anything but Headmistress. "Err…can Carbuncle really- WHOA." She flailed wildly for a wall as she was suddenly lifted from her feet._

"_Barriers can be for things other than just stopping bullets or magic," Selphie said with a grin._

"_I cAn Do AnYtHiNg WiTh ThEm!"_

_Irvine shook his head in wonder. "That might just work. But what about…er…"_

_Selphie could imagine. An ever-expanding barrier pushing outwards from the centre of Garden. Soldiers crushed as walls barred their outward path, or trapped between the barrier and SeeD. She didn't like it, but what choice did they have? "They made their choice."_

_Irvine shrugged. "What do you need us to do?"_

"_Keep them busy. I can do it alone, I've been exploring down in the Shelter long enough and I helped get the B-Garden one working. Just give me one day."_

_Irvine smiled. "Not a problem."_

* * *

The corridors seemed to go on forever as Li murmured softly to herself as she led remembered (awkward sounding?)the directions Selphie had given her. "Almost…almost…"

"Li, are you sure we're going in the right direction-" Almas asked hesitantly. The smooth steel walls opening into identical rooms of equipment and storage were off-putting. They could become lost down here.

"Of course I am," Li snapped back. Carbuncle hovered over her shoulder, providing some small amount of light in the gradually increasing darkness. "This way." Eventually the corridors ended, and the last doorway opened onto nothing.

Almas peered inside at the black void, a thin strip of metal extending from the doorframe out towards a wall of white, and only darkness on either side. It looked like someone had sectioned off a wall of ice and simply lifted it away. "What the hell happened here?"

"We figured out that the Shelter gives off a lot of heat when it's working," Irvine said. "The first time we tried to power it up after we finished rebuilding the halos came down and melted all the ice here. We turned it off before we did any real damage." He tapped the wall. "The ice re-froze out here, and the one of the Shelter's entrance is across from us. If you fall it's a loooong way down." She started forward. "Come on, we can inside from here."

They crossed the bridge and headed inside. Instantly the scenery changed. Ragged piping and patchwork equipment were replaced by smoothed contours that dovetailed into each other. _It looks nothing like B-Garden's Shelter_, Almas thought to herself.

Carbuncle floated up and down happily as he followed Li through the smooth contours of the ancient building. "SlOw DoWn!"

Almas turned to check that Carbuncle was keeping up, and it saved her life.

Vision swam like a vast heat in the corridor as the space where Almas' head had been just a second ago was ripped apart by tides, holes opening up in the walls to show the passage of the gravitic beam. Diablos screeched in frustration and leapt as a wall of green sprung up between him and the group. It held for only a second but it was enough as Irvine shouted _"RUN!"_ and they were running as fast as they could out of the confining maze.

"_YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!"_

"Watch us!" Irvine muttered as they ran. "Don't look back!"

"Just a few yards down here!" Li shouted.

Irvine threw his shoulder into the door as hard as he could and heard a sickening _crack_ as the trio smashed through into the central Trabia Garden chamber.

Selphie swung around at the sound of the commotion to see the group tumble into the chamber. Metal grating below them showed a pit full of twisting machinery and crackling electricity as Selphie powered up the ancient machinery for the second time. Spokes and support girders crossed above them like a spiderweb, surrounding the central column of metal thicker than a house.

"Keep working," Irvine shouted as Diablos barrelled through the doorway, metal buckling in his wake as he flew at them, and smashed into a hastily-erected barrier by Carbuncle.

"No!" the small green Guardian shouted as Diablos focussed his power on smashing through the small creature's defences. "No MoRe BrOtHeR, PlEaSe!"

"_Move, brat!"_ The barrier shattered like glass and Carbuncle swooped backwards, but not fast enough and Diablos' claw caught him. He spun across the room and hit a metal pillar, falling onto the floor with a sad thud where he lay twitching. _"Stay down."_

"DIE!"

Li charged the black demon, swinging the _Shai'en_ as she did so. Only inches from Diablos' skull she gasped and staggered as suddenly the sword felt like it weighed tons, and she fell to her knees with teeth gritted, unwilling to drop the blade so close to the creature she loathed.

"LI!"

Bullets fanned across Diablos and fell away into the walls and floors as Irvine and Leonard opened fire from two sides. The demon didn't even bother moving as space warped around him and they zipped harmlessly away. The Guardian turned as electricity arced around the room and his gaze fixed on Li at his feet, still desperately trying to pick the magikiller blade off the floor. "_Where's the girl"?_

"Right _here!"_

Almas swung with everything she had. Whether the distraction of the other three SeeDs had been enough or Diablos' own arrogance but her gunblade connected. She pulled the trigger and was rewarded as he roared in pain as the blade vibrated almost out of her hand as it sliced into his carapace. Her victory was short-lived though as she had to step back to avoid a backhand that would have smashed her skull open.

"_BITCH!"_ Diablos roared and the floor undulated underneath Almas' feet as the metal warped and contracted under the tides from the enraged Guardian. Instinct took over and she leapt the only way she could.

"Almas!" Selphie shouted in shock as the young woman jumped off the platform and landed on one of the support beams holding up the Shelter's massive machinery.

"Just keep working!" Irvine shouted to Selphie as he moved around to get a better shot as Diablos extended his wings and took off after her. He hissed in frustration as the Guardian swooped through the spiderweb of metal bars after the girl. _Damnit!_ He heard a thud and turned in time to see Li leap after her childhood friend. With an almost supernatural flash of intuition he reached forward in time to grab Leonard's lapels and stop him going as well. "You stay here, that's an order, you can't hold a weapon _and_ climb after them," he said, and Leonard flinched backwards at the menace in his voice.

* * *

Li concentrated on climbing through the jungle of I-beams and girders and tried to block out the roars that sounded like they were coming from everything and nowhere.

"_You can't hide forever!"_

She glanced sideways to make sure Almas was keeping up at her, who smiled wryly and shrugged. _What are you going to do about it?_ She pointed downwards and both of them looked through the metal framework. The faint glow that had been coming from the bottom of the massive shaft was intensifying. Li made sure she had Almas' attention and began to sign. _Get him down there. Into the metal. Keep him cornered. Attack from both sides._

Almas only signed back one word. _Crazy._

Li was about to shrug and insist when Almas' eyes went wide and she jabbed a hand behind her. Li was already turning, using the beams as a fulcrum to swing around as Diablos struck from behind. His hand hit the _Shai'en_ head-on and he screamed in pain as the blade buried itself between his fingers and carved a path up his arm. He pushed backwards, trying to dislodge himself from the blade, grey mist spiralling from the long tear in his flesh and dissipating into the air. Li cried out with effort as she wrenched the blade free and almost fell, only a stray cable stopping her from falling into the ever-shining glow in the centre of the Centran machinery.

"_BITCH!"_

Diablos tried to spread his black wings, and was crouched almost ready to take of, when Almas landed on him, slamming her own gunblade into his head, but her aim was off with the difficulty of finding a steady landing and it glanced from a horn, chipping it off. She landed flat-footed and stumbled. She twisted wildly and used her momentum to jump clear of Diablos' madly-swinging claws.

The fight degenerated into a mass of fast strikes as all three combatants tried to find the best position in the tenuous collection of metal suspended over nothing. Diablos couldn't escape with the metal closing in on all sides and his right arm was now merely a club that could only try and batter them to death, but he was wary at another careless strike and neither Almas nor Li could land a definitive hit on the black Guardian as the air grew hotter and the glow from the abyss below them intensified.

Li screamed in frustration and hatred as Diablos dodged another swing from the _Shai'en_ and as she stepped back the dull _thunk_ of metal at her back told her she was leaned against the central pillar of Trabia Garden's shelter. _Shit shit shit._

The demon landed hard on the girder next to her and she readied herself to meet the fist she knew was coming. But instead Diablos roared as he rushed forward and Li felt panic close in as he slammed into her and a hand grabbed her own and within a second she was forced back against the pillar, and he was _right there_ in front of her pinning her down, and she could feel his breath on her face. It stank of blood. Her sword-arm was trapped against the warm metal of the central pillar and she tried to work it free, but she already felt teeth reaching for her neck and could see Almas' look of horror from over Diablo' shoulder as her friend tried to reach for her but too slow, too slow, and she felt pinpricks of teeth on her neck as Diablos' reached to

Suddenly the pressure and presence vanished and she almost toppled from the support as Diablos' reared back, clutching at his head as the colour seemed to drain from him. He staggered and looked on the verge of toppling as the ghastly wail seemed to almost vibrate from the Guardian. His wings extended and beat frantically against the air as Li shielded her eyes from the glow that was now almost too bright to allow vision.

"_LI!"_

She felt a hand clap her on the shoulder and Almas' worried face looking into her own. She felt neither shock or surprise nor panic, only wonder as the light seemed to shine _through_Almas, and in that moment Li could have swore she could see the being beneath. _Beautiful wings of light…_

"_We gotta go!"_

Li shook the concussion from her head and nodded. The two women began the clamber back up to – if not the surface – then at least back to familiar and friendly faces. Beneath them the light began to steadily throb as the supports and girders began to rotate as giant machinery finally roared to life. Selphie had done it.

Trabia Garden was waking up.

* * *

Irvine's hand was steady as a rock as he pointed his rifle at the man who had entered the room. From the corner of his eye he could see Leonard had moved far enough away that both of them couldn't be hit with the same volley. _Good man._

Kayes had his hands held up in front of him, but the familiar oozing smile of superiority was still on his face. "That's not really necessary Kinneas."

"You stand right there you shit," he hissed back. "You stand there and you don't _move an inch-"_

He stumbled at the same time as Selphie punched the air and shouted "_Yes!"_ and suddenly Kayes was already moving, Leonard's bullets passing through the air where the man had been. Hyne but he had forgotten how _fast_ Kayes could move when he wanted to.

Selphie turned around with a smile on her face. "It's working!"

Outside the giant halos would be slowly rotating as torque and power built up and the flight systems came online for the first time since reconstruction. The noise and shaking would have been all the signal the Trabians needed: _Get away, far away, or risk death and dismemberment._ All that was needed now was-

"_CARBUNCLE!"_ Selphie ran over to the small Guardian lying forlornly where he had been thrown by his one-time comrade, green smoke evaporating from jagged cuts in his shaking body.

"SeLpHiE…?"

Irvine knelt down next to the pair as Leonard stood watchful for any sign of Kayes. "Hey there big guy, you ready?" Irvine ignored Selphie as she glared daggers at him. "We just your help for a little while okay?"

Carbuncle floated haltingly to head-height and the expression of joy on his face was almost enough to break Irvine's heart. "Of CoUrSe!"

"Then let's get to work, partner."

* * *

_BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH _

Diablos seethed in fury as he stumbled back up towards Kayes and whatever prey the ape had managed to secure in his absence. His ruined hand was pouring prana into the air and his head pounded like the ocean against a stone wall. Whatever the slant-eyed bitch had done to him he swore he'd repay a thousand-fold. It had felt like his very soul was being sucked out of his body. If he had such a thin-

_WHAT NOW_

He looked up as the air tinted emerald. His overworked body seemed to be affecting his mind and it took agonising seconds before he realised what was happening.

_Oh you stupid brat._

Pushing through the pain he extended his wings and commanded the power he had been born with, and leapt. Metal twisted and threw itself away as he ascended back to the catwalk above and saw the tableaux as the grating vanished in a tide of gravity.

Carbuncle floated in the air and Diablos could feel the power flowing from the tiny green body, and the itching in his carapace intensified until it seemed his skin was about to tear itself free from his flesh. He saw Kinneas and the other SeeD brats turn towards him from their positions close around the green Guardian but ignored them as he looked around the room and saw Kayes crouched (_coward) _behind a metal beam. Within a second he was next to him and Kayes barely had time to widen his eyes and shout _what the fu_ before Diablos was airborne again and flying out as fast as he could, away from what he knew was coming.

* * *

Dozens died.

The emerald wall passed through metal and steel but human flesh was crushed, trapped inside corridors and rooms that suddenly had no exits and a flat green death coming at them from within as Carbuncle's great barrier flew outwards from the centre of Trabia Garden. Trabia was engulfed in a green sphere that flickered and threatened to distort at any moment.

Forewarned, the Trabian soldiers cheered, their breath catching and sending cold daggers down their throat when they roared victory in the cold ice outside, as the squat cylindrical structure shook the ice from its shoes and ascended. Galbadian armour and vehicles tumbled off suddenly frictionless surfaces to smash down on the ice. Yellow tinged the green sphere and finally the light faded, and Trabia was left floating in the sky.

Victory.

* * *

"Is he…?"

Selphie put a hand over Carbuncle's flank as the Guardian lay motionless in her lap, ruby eyes closed in sleep, either temporary or eternal it was impossible to tell.

"No…he can't just…" Li whispered.

"He's alive," Almas whispered. Heads turned to see the young girl with a frown on her face as she stared intently at the Guardian of Light. Her eyes seemed to reflect more light than was possible, seeming to glow like the moon. "But…there's nothing left." She looked into Selphie's tearful eyes and she spoke with a forlorn voice. "He has no power left. He's not going to last."

"I'll give him power!" Selphie shouted. "I'll junction him for the rest of my life if I have to! Everyone in Trabia will!"

"SeLpHiE…"

"What?" Selphie whispered quickly as Carbucle shuddered in her hands.

"DiD I…Do GoOd? DiD…sElPhIe, WhAt'S wRoNg?"

"You did great big guy," Irvine said softly as Selphie cried. "You did great." He put a hand on Selphie's shoulder as Almas gently lifted Carbuncle from Selphie's lap. "Set us down somewhere away from the Galbadians. We need to send a message to Balamb. Tell them we have T-Garden again."

"We'll send them more than that," Selphie said with quiet determination. She looked up at Irvine. "We're _going_ to Balamb. _Right now."_

* * *

He had expected death. Or rage at the very least. Not _nothing_. Diablos, however, had rage enough for both of them.

"_WHERE WERE YOU, YOU AND YOUR OLD GHOSTS? WE COULD HAVE KILLED THEM THEM HERE, HAD THE GIRL ON A SPIT ON A FIRE, AND-"_

"Shut up," Tisiphone said quietly. Something it was even more terrifying than her range. Diablos shut up. "Twice now I've put my trust in you and twice you have failed monumentally." She stepped forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with Diablos. "Your trial period is almost over, demon, and you look like a whipped dog to boot." She jabbed a finger into Diablos' chest and the Guardian hissed as his head pounded in response. Whatever the Dollet brat's cursed sword had done to him would stay with him. He could feel it. "We took you in because of what you said you could deliver us, the offer you made. This has not been as productive a relationship as you had promised."

The icy Esper shifted its position and Kayes felt his skin crawl as it slid forward over the snow to stand next to its master. The hooded woman fused onto its front seemed to almost writhe. _A trick of a light, just a trick._

"You have one more chance. One more chance to see if you have a place in our new world when the time comes, and this time you will be graded _in situ_ as it were."

_You're kidding._

Tisiphone exalted in the fear that was plain upon Kaye's face, and the sheer hatred reflected in Diablos' crimson eyes. She breathed in the emotion like perfume, the power she had over them. Maybe her brother was not entirely brain-dead with his opinions on power other than physical. "When next we attack at the traitorous shell you will lead the charge, and make no mistake the sword is very firmly hovering above your heads."

"Now get out of my sight."

The pair watched as the APC trundled away across the snow. One thought bounced from mind to mind, and they glanced at each other. In Kaye's eyes there was a new desperation at events spun out of his control and all his plans looking to unravel before him. Diablos was merely calculating the odds. _This partnership_, he decided, _will not last much longer_.

They walked back to their own transport as it pulled out and away from the hovering Garden, now beyond their reach as effective as if it were on the moon itself. Away from their failure.

Away from the ice.


	24. I Give All My Tomorrows

They walked carefully over the Centran ruins, stone and pebbles shifting under their feet and the sound of the sea over the horizon as they approached the building. As they approached the impatience in Quistis rose in intensity until finally she dropped Siren's hand, the warmth Siren radiated falling as she left, and almost ran to the door. Even before she crossed the gravel it had swung open, and Quistis wrapped her arms around Edea Kramer's neck.

"I'm home," Quistis whispered.

"Welcome back," Edea replied. "What took you so long, child?"

"We had to make a detour," Quistis said significantly as she nudged Siren towards the woman who had been her mother for so long.

"Miss Kramer," Siren said shyly as she approached the stone building.

"You don't have to be so formal with me Siren, I keep telling you that," Edea said gently. She turned as a voice sounded from inside the building. "Dear, they've arrived."

Cid came to the door with a smile on his face. It had been less than a month since he had left Garden once and for all but the change was already noticeable. "Quistis, Siren, it's great to see you so soon. You can join us for dinner."

"I'd love to sir, but-"

Cid waved away her argument. "Your partners won't be here for another hour or so, so don't try and skip out so soon on us now."

Quistis looked at Siren and shrugged, then back at her true parents. "Why not?"

* * *

"_Why are we here, Siren"?_

_They stared up at the towering edifice. Siren had at first asked politely, but soon her request had turned insistent, and Quistis didn't have the heart to refuse. It wasn't that far out of their way. Rust crunched sickly under their feet as they approached the ancient Centran ruins. Quistis remembered it well, and the being that had dwelt within._

"_I just need to know something Quistis. It won't take long." She lets go of Quistis' hand. "Just…wait for me here. Please."_

"_Siren, you don't know what he'll do. Remember how he acted back in the Second War? He just appeared when he wanted and killed things. Like it was nothing, just a little fun with the poor kids. He didn't give a damn about us!" She stares at Siren intently and there's real fear on her face. "He could kill you just for boring him, or because you have something he wants, or for no reason at all."_

_Siren smiled gently. "It's fine. I have nothing he wants."_

_

* * *

_

"It's so peaceful here," Siren said wistfully as she stared out across the distance. The flower-field undulated gently in the breeze. Looking out across the rainbow of petals it was easy to forget that Centra was a bleak wasteland over the rest of its surface, scoured clean of life by the Lunar Cry that had annihilated the once-thriving civilisation that had lived here.

"We do our best to keep it that way," Edea said. She turned to Siren. "Siren, what are you doing?"

Siren was taken aback. She hesitated for a few seconds before she replied. "I don't know what you mean Ms Kr- Edea," she said.

Edea sighed. "Child, I've been an orphanage matron for years now. Seifer used to try to lie to me after he tormented Zell and he couldn't get away with it, so please let's not do this."

Siren sighed. "Yes Matron."

"Why are you trying to kill yourself?"

* * *

_As she walked up the steps she thought to herself: I know this place._

_The tower was massive, appearing to reach up to the heavens. Siren walks the stone steps unaided, her eyes almost closed as she remembers the path from whatever racial memory her Guardianship allows. She knows the tower and the ruins surrounding it were once a magnificent temple devoted to beings like her, until the Lunar Cry fell onto the heads of the Centra and smashed them into powder._

_Finally she approaches the door. The pillars of multicoloured fire are still lit, even a half-decade since she was here, when the Heroes came, guided by either instinct or some gentle persuading of Shiva or Diablos. The giant stone doors are shut but this is no impediment and as she raises a hand they begin to swing open. She is still young by the standards of her people but she is still a Guardian, and some things are hers by right._

_The candles inside flicker as the harsh wind blows into the arched corridor. She walks hesitantly as the dust shifts and swirls around her. Metal curls around the stone and leads the way as it tells a story, a story of swords and blood passed down through the ages of the first men and through the glacial ages and the slow ascent of man, until finally it's last_ _storytellers died before they could pass it on._

_The man is already waiting there for her, as she knew he would be. He's leaned lack laconically on the throne, a massive disrespect to the towering presence whose home it had once been. But that man is dead now, felled by an impossible, million-to-one chance that even she found suspect. Shiva thinks that the Swordsman's untimely and shocking defeat was no mere luck or skill, that this being had a hand in it, in order to reclaim what he thought his. Siren thinks he is right. She bows before the throne._

"_Hey there kiddo," the man says indulgently as he brushes his cape aside to reveal the arsenal beneath._

"_Gilgamesh."_

_

* * *

_

"Are you really happy with this sir?" Quistis asked.

Cid smiled as he looked out over the fields. He could see his wife and Siren talking in the flower-field, and past that the ocean that swelled calmly against the beach where his children (and they are all his children, even now) had grown up before being taken away. The memory as tinged with sadness. Some had gone away and found families. Others hadn't faired so well. "Happy to be here in the quiet with my wife? Far away from the Garden and worrying about how we're going to keep it running for another year, or how to sort out the new curriculum, or how to negotiate with a dozen nation-states that don't trust us at all?" He sighs contentedly. "Yes, I'm happy here."

Quistis sighed. "It's really serious out there Cid," she said, and waved a hand towards the backpack they had carried across half a continent. "I've taken a look at the knowledge these beings left behind Cid and it scares me."

Cid shook his head. "Quistis my dear, it hasn't occurred to me for a moment that you'll lose." For rebuttal he waved his own hand towards the radiant and chaotic garden. "Even if the worst comes to pass, what better place to end my life then here, where I had my best times?" He shook his head. "This is my home, Quisty. I'll meet whatever fate has in store for me here." He leaned back in his creaky wooden chair. "Let's not talk about this, there are happier subjects. Tell me about Siren."

Quistis looked aghast. "Oh Hyne you _knew?"_

Cid laughed. "When you came over that hill together you looked exactly like I imagine Edea and I did when we first found this place." He turned sober for a moment. "You look happy, Quistis. You were always the one who had the most trouble with that. You never really fitted in with the others. Always too mature to play with your own age, too young to be taken seriously by your peers."

"The Second War sorted that out at least," Quistis said wryly as she sipped her cup. Whatever the pair were growing here it could be addictive, she decided.

"All of you, the proud heroes. So far above the rest of us now."

Quistis headed him off. "I can see where this is going Cid. Squall and Rinoa were meant to be. I can't imagine Selphie without Irvine now. Even Zell has something he can spend his life dedicated to. I tried that, but-"

"It wasn't enough."

"No," she admitted, "it wasn't." She stared out at Siren and Edea. Even so much shorter than it had been the Guardian's blonde hair still billowed around her in the breeze. "I feel…complete…with her."

"It will be hard," Cid said after a pause.

She turned to look her father in the eyes. "I'll find a way."

"I know."

* * *

"_Aha. Ahahaha. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"_

_Siren doesn't speak or lift her head. She endures the mocking laughter that rolls over her from the man._

_Gilgamesh wipes the tears from his eyes. "This is hilarious." He stares down at her and Siren can almost feel the sneer that must be under the man's robes. "Are you serious? Are you absolutely serious? You came here to ask me _this?_"_

_Siren looks up. "Yes." She takes a deep breath. "Show me how you did it. Teach me."_

"_How to stop being a Guardian?"_

"_How to stop being a Guardian."_

"_To become a human?"_

_The ache in her heart threatens to overwhelm her "Yes." Goddess in heaven, yes. She can see the future unrolling before her. She lied to Odine. She can't bear it. Her love will grow old and pass and she will be left alone to walk the earth in misery. Alone again. Better to have one life and to die then endure eternity._

_Gilgamesh leans forward on the throne. Metal scrapes against stone as he moves and Siren shudders involuntarily. "You can soar in the heavens but you want to wallow in the muck?"_

_Siren feels rage build up at the implied insult. "Yes!"_

_The menace leaves Gilgamesh as fast as it arrived."As you will."_

_Speaking with him is exhausting. Even Shiva knows little about the man before her, if he even is a man. He had been like them once; a primal force immortal and untouchable. But he had turned his back on eternity and one day just…left. Shiva told the story that Gilgamesh had made a bet with the dragon king that he was undefeatable by anyone, immortal or not. Bahamut had taken the wager and struck Gilgamesh down effortlessly. The Guardian of Blades had sworn revenge and that he would walk the earth until he could find a weapon capable of killing the great serpent. Leviathan spoke that once Gilgamesh had met a human that had beaten him in battle and stolen his most prized sword, and Gilgamesh had left Olesia in shame, wandering the worlds and through all of time until he could recover the blade. A dozen different stories conflicting with each other. But one thread connected all of them:_

_The god that had become a man._

_Gilgamesh smiled, revealing rows of perfect teeth. "I like you, little girl. You've got balls. Figuratively speaking of course. Come over here and listen to your uncle Gilgamesh teach you."_

"_Teach you how to die."_

* * *

Edea shook her head. "You poor child."

Siren felt the tension leave her. She had been expecting anger. "I want this, Edea." For a second the control slipped from her calm face and Edea saw the desperation beneath. "I want it _so much_."

Edea stared at the woman intently. She could see the determination on Siren's face. They had never had much contact before. Siren had arrived late into the old, and Edea had been controlled by the mind of Ultimecia long before then. The memory she had of the Guardian was of a radiant creature, a shining angel of light. The Siren that stood before her now had lost the incredible glow and power of the old, but the same poise and intensity still shone through and made her beautiful. "You would really do this?" she asked quietly. "Use up your power and bind yourself forever to her? You would go with her hand-in-hand to the grave?"

Siren didn't hesitate. "_Yes._"

Edea looked out at the sea. "You remind me of myself, when I first met Cid," she said wistfully. "We would have followed each other to hell." She sighed in defeat. "How can I argue with love like that?" She could see the glint on the horizon and gave a small frown. _So soon?_

Siren followed her gaze. "Who's that?"

Edea sighed. "Your companions, and your transport."

Sails furled as the boat drew alongside the small jetty. Even before the boat had pulled to a complete stop two men in bone-white uniforms had jumped off and positioned themselves looking outward, eyes alert for any threat. They caught sight of Edea and Siren instantly, and nodded slightly.

The young woman stepped from the ship as the wind blew at her dress. She spotted Edea and a smile lit up her demure face. "Matron!"

Edea smiled as Siren excused herself politely and began to make her way back to the old house. "Hello Ellone."

* * *

They embraced and then withdrew to look at examine each other.

"You look good Ellone."

"It's the sea air Quisty," the brunette replied. "You're not looking so bad yourself. A little weathered maybe."

Quistis laughed. It _was_ good to see Ellone again. Laguna had wrung his hands about calling on his surrogate daughter but eventually had surrendered to the logic of requesting the White SeeD's help. Even if their organisation's purpose had been fulfilled Ellone had chosen to stay with the close-knit family that had guarded her for so long. With the events of the last few months she may have been right.

"Hello, Siren. Good to see you again."

"Ellone." Siren gave a small curtsey. An awkward silence covered the group before Cid stepped in to save them.

"Do you ladies have to leave so soon or can I convince you to…no. No I don't suppose I can, can I?" he said sadly.

Quistis kissed him on the cheek. "We'll come back, when all this is over, I promise."

They left without drama. Quistis stared wistfully at the shore as the boat pulled away into the sea and out into the ocean and sighed. She felt Siren put an arm around her. "I'll always miss them." She felt warmth diffuse around the pair as Siren extended ethereal wings around the pair, blocking off the salty breeze, and smiled. "That feels nice."

Siren smiled. "I have a little power to spare." _Use it up, use it all up._

"What did Gilgamesh tell you?" Quistis felt the cold wind encroach on the little bubble of warmth. "Siren?"

"I…"

"Just tell me you know what you're doing Siren, please. If I lost you I wouldn't be able to bear it."

"Of course I do."

Quistis smiled slightly and turned away as Siren watches the horizon. The White SeeD coughed politely and she gave the quiet man the coordinates for Balamb Garden. With a clipped _ma'am_ he walked away, nodding to Ellone as he passed her.

"Is everything alright Quistis?"

She nodded. "Of course. We're going back, finally." She shuddered slightly, the tablets and the information therein seeming to weigh on her mind as well as her body. _Finally off this barren continent and back to a little civilisation._ She had no idea what the others were still doing, had had no contact with her friends since they had left Esthar over a fortnight ago to rifle through the ruins of the past. She hoped they were still doing okay.

Quistis pulled herself close against Siren and felt the warmth engulf her. The boat sailed on into the deeper ocean, back to the Garden. Back home.

* * *

The Esper banked against the wind as concentrated on the tiny wake in the ocean below and tried to think. Ever since it had awoken it had been unclear, only the familiar feel of its master's orders offering a steadying anchor in the cool breeze. It felt right to obey. Or at least, it had.

Now the twin pinpoints of light in the confusing darkness that had shown it the way was fractured. It felt the red and dark glares of the ones who had awoken it far in the distance with its brothers and sisters, but now there was a third light, muddy and indistinct but shining white and slowly growing brighter. Below her too on the fragile and small vessel on the seas it felt a familiar smell. Not the sharp image of its master or familiar warm haze of its own kind but a dull feel, the feeling of something it knew but not a person, an artefact that was itself wrapped in a presence that felt like the ground far below.

Instinctually it cried without words across the world to its brethren. The answers came back one after another until all were accounted here. All save one. The Esper had tried to feel sadness for the loss of its brother but the feeling was missing, gone like the rest. It knew vaguely that things had been clearer once. Maybe in the future it would be again. For now it had the feeling of its masters, anger and rage at some ancient grudge just outside of comprehension.

It twisted in the air and felt the wind flow around its spiral-inscribed and serpentine body as it followed the unliving presence and the earthen smell to its lair. Vengeance would be meted out in full for whatever crime its master remembered. Comprehension would come soon. For now it would obey its master while it tried to fully awaken.

It flew on.


	25. The Calm Before

"-are all waiting for you in the Long Room sir. Sir?"

Melanthios glanced around at the nervous-looking aide before turning his attention back towards the painting. "Hmm?"

"The generals are waiting for you sir." The young assistant followed the man in black's gaze. "Quite something isn't it?"

"You could say that."

The painting went from the ceiling almost to the floor, covered in some ornate baroque monstrosity. Beautiful winged humans dressed in flowing white robes and little else surrounded a giant white-bearded man as he threw thunder down from roiling clouds onto a group of black-coated demonic forms sinking into a red mud. The expressions on the faces of the demons were of anger and pain. The faces of the angelic figures were full of righteous stoicism. On the face of the tall man there was nothing at all. It reached down into his core and jerked hard on something he would have preferred to ignore. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"_Hyne casting down the demons,"_ the aide replied, taking an involuntary step back as a slow grin spread across the man's face. "Sir?"

_How apt. _"And you are"? Melanthios asked, turning away from the gigantic painting to face the boy full-on, the smile hardening on his face like some hideous tear. He barely registered the reply. "And what do you think of all this?"

"Sir?"

"SeeD, the war."

"S'not my place to say sir."

"I'm asking you," he said, and his tone brooked no argument.

"I was in Deling sir, here in the mansion, night that SeeD commander killed that girl and blew up the street. I _saw_ that…that creature sir, the demon." The boy's hand whipped up nervously and made the Sign across his uniform's breast. "We can't allow that kind of thing to live sir, it's an abomination."

"An abomination huh?" the man said with a whisper. "Magic and all that?"

"It's not right," came the reply, with all the certainty of youth. When the boy looked up from his feet again the man in black was already walking past him and he rushed to catch up. "They're all waiting in the drawing room for you."

"And what's their mood?"

Mentally the aide shrugged and pressed on. "They're not happy sir."

"The bombings." It wasn't a question. "What are we up to now?"

"Umm, two vehicle depots, three ammunition dumps and a command post in the city. Two uprisings in Timber, another four in Dollet. Total losses fifty soldiers lost or wounded and-" the aide flipped pages on his clipboard and spat out the figures like a machine, a litany of the lost and ruined. "-and three more unexplainable occurrences sir."

Melanthios looked out a window and grinned inwardly. '_Unexplainable occurrences.'_ Soldiers waking up to find themselves sitting next to vehicles that had somehow split in two silently in the night. Patrols came back with men screaming from frostbite that had come from nowhere, just _nowhere_, on warm days. Gaps, holes melted through solid steel that extended through several walls as if something huge and unstoppable had barrelled through a half-mile of housing and military installation without anyone realising. Civilians woken in the night by winds that had picked up – _picked up_ – APCs and dropped them meters away without disturbing the gardens they sat next to.

Light and magic.

"-and was asked to tell you that the flooding has finally been controlled in the lower levels of lab zero and we can begin reclamation. He said you'd know what that meant."

Melanthios nodded at the last point as the pair finally drew up to the large pair of oaken double-doors leading into the main dining hall. The corridor stank of pine and cleaning fluids and he resisted the urge to sneer in case he carried it into the room with him. _Hands covered in blood but never a speck of dirt. Imbeciles._ He sighed. At least this obnoxious part of his agreement with Caraway could finally be dealt with. "Let's get this over with." He rapped smartly on the door and walked into the room without waiting for a response, to meet the eyes of the men within.

"Gentlemen."

* * *

"Looks good from where I'm standing."

Squall cringed as Fujin shot a black glare at Raijin as Rinoa finished tying off the bandage. "Quiet, you."

Crashes and metallic sounds echoed through the small house as the rumbling subsided. The explosion would cover the sound of the quickly-packing guerrillas but Squall was still nervous, wishing for five sets of eyes but having to do with one as they packed up equipment and wiring and weaponry. The house had served its purpose but was far too close to the now-smoking ruin of the target building to be safe and wanted to be gone. "Seifer?"

The other man didn't bother turning away from the window. His normal jacket shrugged off for some black overalls he blended into the shadows effortlessly. The sounds of scuffling footsteps on the street outside were louder and more numerous than the last time they had done this. They were going to have to start being more careful. Seifer watched as the squads hurried past, not bothering to look into the buildings as they passed. "We're fine for now."

Rinoa stood shakily. "I'm fine."

Seifer looked around quickly. "You're not fine, I can practically smell it from here, sit down. We can wait a little longer."

Rinoa frowned but sat back down again, too tired to argue. Seifer was right. The smell of burning was still strong in the air as Rinoa's Sorcery had burnt away the steel walls between themselves and the guards, atoms (_and steel and flesh, don't forget Rin, don't let yourself forget) _vaporising in the air and leaving only the smell of burnt ozone that clung to her like a miasma. Every time she used the power it felt like it dragged out a piece of her soul as it left. She wished she could just stop and stay back, but she'd agreed to the rotation along with everyone else when Fujin had softly asked her at the beginning of their resistance.

_We'd appreciate it Ms Heartilly, I don't have any other way to put it. Lady Shiva and Pan can help out but we'd risk bringing down the Espers on our heads if they got so much of a scent of Guardians within the city. Will you help us?_

And how could she have refused and faced herself in a mirror again? She tried standing again and this time her legs didn't feel quite so much like rubber. "I'm fine, I'm- let's just go."

Squall looked across at Raijin, who gave a fast thumbs-up without looking around. "Alright let's go." The room flowed into motion and suddenly it was empty except for Squall and Rinoa. He put an arm on her shoulder. "How are you?"

Rinoa shrugged. "I'll just…I'll be fine Squall," she said gently. "Really."

"I'm worried about using it too much, I know Fujin asked and it made sense but-"

Rinoa's answer came out just a little faster and harsher than she meant it to. "Squall I'm not a little girl, can you just- I mean I know I'm not as tough as Quistis or Selphie but I'm no princess."

Squall's hand flinched back. "I know, I just-" _I worry. I worry about your Sorcery, I worry about you somehow using it all up and all that's going to be left is some empty shell that looks like you but isn't. I worry about stray bullets and random bad luck and shrapnel from standing in just the wrong place and- _"I just worry is all."

Rinoa leaned forward and kissed him in the darkened room as Galbadian soldiers shouted and gestured frantically to get the blazing ammo dump under control down the street. "I know," she whispered. "But not so much, okay?" They smiled at each for a second before the sound of hurrying footsteps in the street beyond.

By the time the Galbadian soldier was knocking politely at the door they were already gone.

* * *

_By God you're a bunch of pathetic old men._

He stared across the long oaken table, hardly bothering to hide his boredom as the aide behind him grew visibly more nervous as the Galbadian generals haranged and questioned and demanded answers from the man in black.

"-asking why we have been unable to crush _one_ measly rebellion-"

_Because they're fighting for their lives and you're merely fighting for your positions._

"-spiralling cost of projects you haven't even explained yet. Caraway may have given you executive power but-"

_Because Caraway at least understood the idea of a view longer than the end of the day._

"-answerable to the Galbadian people-"

_The Galbadian people are sitting in their homes terrified of this war and that's just the way you like it._

"-refusal to share control of your…ahem…biological weaponry…is becoming-"

That did it.

"The _Espers_ are mine to command gentleman." He leaned forward the there wasn't a single overindulged, prideful, supremely arrogant man in the room who didn't flinch backwards. "This was the understanding I had with your commander. This was what I brought to the table." He twisted the knife in a little more. "Of course, if you have some wish to alter or annul our arrangement…"

The army brigadier sitting at the other end of the table, and one of the only ones who had ever shown any spine in his presence, leaned forward. "The arrangement is fine. It is the results we are concerned with." The man grabbed a handful of papers and flung them at him. "Rebellions in half the conquered city-states-"

"_Occupied_ city-states," one of the other generals said with a nervous tic, and both Melanthios and the brigadier couldn't resist a small sneer.

"Occupied city-states _fine._ But the massacre of fleeing troops and the…zeal…of your female partner are becoming tiresome. We're soldiers, not pillagers or guerillas." Unlike many of the men sitting around the table he at least had seen combat in the Second Sorceress War, and the man in black's methods insulted his honour.

_Enough. _Melanthios stood. "Enough."

"We're not done here yet," the man said. It really was going to be a shame.

"Yes we are." Power radiated from his body but he didn't bother to reel it in. "This nation has gone as far as it can under the current leadership."

The air began to shimmer like a fire had been lit underneath the floorboards. Several of the generals had already opened their mouths to complain, faces moving into the too-much-used forms of complaint and pompous argument. Only the man at the other end of the table remained silent and watchful. Not that it was going to help.

"Unfortunately what Galbadia needs now in the final stages of conquest is a strong and confident hand on the wheel."

He heard the aide behind him gasp as the air began to bleed. Black splotches stained the air like ink dropped onto invisible paper and the anger on the fat general's faces changed to confusion as they realised something was wrong.

"Something which you gentlemen seem unable to understand. I will therefore be-"

The smash of glass sounded through the room and it took Melanthios a second to realise what had happened: The brigadier, the only man who had stood up to him among all the Galbadian high command, had jumped from his seat and leapt out of the window as he had stood there talking. He stood stock-still for one second, his cadence thrown off by the sheer nerve and prescience of the man, and felt the unfamiliar anger rise as his grand soliloquey was derailed. "Fine, fuck it." He opened his mouth and uttered something no human throat should have been capable of.

The Esper emerged fully-formed into the room and he at least noticed with satisfaction the horror and fear on the faces of the men in front of him as the grinning skull-faced Esper materialised. Black steel armour covered a leering winged skeleton, one wing curving and transforming itself into flesh and forming the shape of a young blindfolded woman, a smile on her face and one arm draped adoringly across the body of the monstrous beast. Melanthios heard the door slam as the aide ran screaming from the room and the Esper stepped forward talons unfolding with a dull hiss of promised violence and darkness enfolded the room.

"Your services are no longer required."

* * *

"I'm worried about Rinoa."

They were sat on the roof, looking out across the city had become some kind of quiet ritual after operations, just coming up onto the roof in the dead of night and staring across Galbadia. From the roof it was almost impossible to see the damage they had wrought, no sign of soldiery on the streets below, or armed gurds harassing civilians out after curfew, or 'recruiting' parties combing the streets and bars for the last few young men and women that had not been caught by the last two drafts. Squall nodded a companionable reply as Fujin came up through the rooflight and rubbed some heat into her hands.

Squall looked across the roof at Seifer and bit back a reply. "What do you mean?" he settled for.

"What, you haven't noticed? Come on Squall." Seifer snorted in disblief and Squal felt his anger rise. "She's exhausted every night, can't sleep, using her powers practically every day-"

"That's a lie and you know it. Shiva is-"

"Shiva's doing the bare minimum she can and we all know why. She's barely a Guardian, more like a SeeD for all the power she's been holding back."

"And you'd prefer to have Espers breathing down our necks? Right, good plan. I'll take it under advisement," Squall said, even as he knew Seifer was right. The risk of an Esper locking onto her presence and tracking down the Resistance HQ was simply too great to risk. The Guardian woman was taking the bare minimum of power from their junction to maintain herself, and it showed.

Seifer flicked a cigarette off the roof and turned to look at Squall. "So you're perfectly happy with keeping Rinoa as our little lightbulb? Lightbulbs burn out Leonhart-"

"_I know!_" He sighed and kicked the wall in frustration, sending a small cloud of brick-dust onto the dark and quiet streets below. "I know! But what else can we do?"

They were running on a clock that was counting down and all three of them knew it. Every operation they undertook, every target destroyed or Galbadian action stymied brought with it an upsurge in security and recalled troops to the city. The equation was simple: At some point enough soldiers would return to Deling that it would become impossible to do anything anymore, and the lurking nightmare underneath it: _What if Melanthios decides enough is enough? Decides he's just _had enough_ of us and wants us gone? How long could we stay undetected if they simply brought back _everyone_ and tore the city apart piece by piece, and one day we wake up with an Esper standing over our bed and no way out, no way out at all._

_What then, Commander?_

"What else can we do?" he asked again with a bite in his voice. "Because I'm open to any ideas you might have." Seifer remained quiet. "None? As I thought. I'm going back below."

The quiet below was unnerving, the only sound the constant whine of the generators stealing whatever power they could scrounge from the dug-out wires running under Deling. Squall looked around at the dusty crates full of recovered machinery and old weaponry and dusty maps. They had been able to get nothing better. _We're really on the edge here._ He tip-toed through the sleeping guerillas resting wherever they could until he reached the small room he shared with Rinoa. He hadn't asked but Raijin had insisted.

_You're a symbol Squall, both of you. It's the least we can do, y'know?_

"Still awake?" he asked as he sat down on the bed Rinoa was sleeping in.

"I can't sleep," she whispered back. "I feel so tired but…it's like it's keeping me awake." She didn't have to tell him what. "It wants to be used." She sat up and stared him in the eyes. "It's scary Squall. The more I use Sorcery the more I think one day I won't be able to stop." The haunted look in her eyes almost broke his heart. "Maybe this is how it starts. Adel, Ultimecia, the-"

Before she could go on Squall leaned forward and hugged her fiercly. "That's not going to happen. We're all here for you, me and Quistis and Irvine and Selphie and Zell." He felt tears come to his eyes and plowed on before his voice could go. "None of us are going to let you down ever Rin, ever. We're here for you to the end."

"It's just all so tiring Squall."

He made up his mind then. "One last sortie Rinoa, I promise, then we'll get out of here." He gestured outside. "There's uprisings in Timber and Dollet and a dozen other places. Everyone's working hard to throw these bastards out, all we need is the final piece of the puzzle and we can take them down and banish these two monsters back to whatever void they crawled out of. We can't get that piece here, we've done the job we came to do. The world's fighting back." He sat down on the bed next to her. "Tisiphone comes back to Deling soon, we know that. We'll make one last try to take her down, and then we'll make our exit."

Rinoa's eyes shined with reflected enthusiasm. _Home. Garden._ "One last attack, and then we go home?"

"Of course."

"All of us?"

And Squall only hesistated a second before he replied: "All of us."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

Rinoa smiled at him and finished the job of breaking his heart her tears had started. "Then that's all I need."

* * *

He drummed his fingers on the table and idley kicked away the hand of the dead man, the one who had tried to rush him as realisation had finally set in that no, this was really happening. A powerful man such as him who had ordered men to their deaths but had never expected to face it himself had been powerless as a grinning spectre had reached out and crushed him with less effort than it took to breath. They had all realised it, in the end. The brigadier was free to run. _He_ at least had earned a reprieve, was smart enough to leave while he could. Melanthios pushed the chair back and stood, looking at the red walls and the blood that had started drying and soaking into the expensive carpets.

"Get me a car," he said quietly to the aide now stood stock-still and utterly terrified as the Esper faded back into nothingness. "Now." He watched as the boy ran off and felt a warm glow, the simple pleasure of absolute fear, fear of _him_.

The city was quiet as he travelled, the noise of Deling muted by the thick windows. He travelled in silence through the city streets-

-the gates of the military base and the salutes of the soldiers on guard-

-the whirr of the elevator on the way to the bottom level-

-and finally the nervous looks of the scientists as he entered the deepest levels of the facility, far from the reach of any light of warmth from above, the bleached and sterile corridors giving no sign of pleasant life. He liked it down here, his footsteps following his path as he looked through the bulletproof windows into the labs, where the only colour that interrupted the pristine sanitary white was blood-red. He walked the labs in silence, trailed by those hand-picked to perform the tasks he had set when the lab was established. All of them were nervous, all of them scared, a fear brought on by the unconscious knowledge that what they were doing went so far beyond morals that there was no light to be seen at the bottom of that well, and the extremely conscious knwoledge that with what they knew they would never be allowed to leave alive.

Melanthios looked in on the final prisoner and smiled, running his hands down the metal flanks. "Well?"

The scientists shuffled his feet and coughed as his hands flipped through pages and pages of dense data. "N- Not within the month sir. Not even within the year unless-"

He sighed in regret. _Oh well._ Just one more thing he'd never have the chance to finish. What a waste. He turned to look at the man. "Call everyone together."

"I…what?" the colour visibly drained from the man's face and he sputtered pathetically. "I can…I mean there are things we can…we just need a little more time."

The pathetic display made him want to grab the man's vocal cords and tear them out. "Just a change of schedule," he lied through gritted teeth as he restrained himself from gutting the man right there. "That's all."

The man scurried out with only one backward glance, and Melanthios was left alone in the huge chamber with his prize. Black tendrils extended from his body to wrap around the massive metal struct- thing inside, and he sighed. All he had needed was time. His thoughts ran unbidden back to the Sorceress bitch and her tame dogs and a black anger fell across him as he could still picture her standing before him, eyes blazing white and unafraid, and he felt his 'arms' contracted in a hard embrace around his metal prisoner and his sister's voice shouted in his head.

_So screw it, let's burn the world. Time's winding down brother and all your schemes are for naught._

_Let the sky rain ashes._

* * *

"It's damn good to see you two again."

They met Nida on the makeshift dock as the Blue SeeD ship turned and made its way back out into the ocean, Ellone waving goodbye from the deck of the White SeeD ship. The man looked haggard and overworked. "Good to be back," Quistis replied with a smile.

"Tell me you have something."

"It's that bad?"

Nida shrugged. "We only really have to worry about bad luck. It's a big ocean, and a small Garden. We've been dodging patrols pretty well but eventually we'll have to land and take on supplies at Esthar."

"If they have Esthar monitored…"

"They do."

Quistis sighed. "Then we'd better get to work." She hefted the backpack from her shoulder and her body groaned in relief at not carrying the heavy stone tablets. "We recovered these from the DSRF."

Nida picked one up and stared at it like a holy artefact. "These are…plans? They look old." He looked unconvinced.

Quistis shrugged. Suddenly the fatigue she had been ignoring since their departure all those weeks ago had made its presence felt again, and all she wanted to do was collapse into her own bad. "Get on them Nida, find us something we can use." She walked off towards the central elevator and her own apartment and felt Siren fall into step with her.

"You feeling okay?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I just need some real sleep, in a real bed." A group of students noticed her and waved and she waved back genially. One of them shot Siren a dirty look. "Ignore it."

She collapsed onto her couch in relief, the comfortable feel of something not hard stone or metal underneath feeling better than words could describe. _Home again._ She wiped a finger across the table and it came away dusty and she frowned. _Have to do something about that._ Then she realised the ridiculousness of the thought and laughed.

"What's funny?"

She looked up at Siren. "Nothing. It just seems so…peaceful here." She leaned back and closed her eyes. "I wonder how Squall's doing." She felt a breeze wash across her face as Siren opened the balcony looking out over the ocean. "Thanks." Eyes closed and with the sounds of battle far from her ears it was easy to believe the last year (_it's been nearly a _year?) was some nightmare she'd awoken from. She could already feel herself drifting off as Siren sat down next to her, and she put her head on the woman's shoulders.

"Quistis?"

"Shush. Just let me stay like this for a while."

* * *

The noise the Esper made was untranslatable, even if human ears had been able to hear it. More a burst of pure magical information that sang across the world than anything as common as mere speech. It wheeled and banked high in the air above the floating seashell, looking down on the tiny form. The small thoughts in the back of its inhuman brain was growing now, but still too small to have any effect on its actions as it sang back to its masters on the other side of the world.

_I've_

_Found_

_Them_


	26. The Storm

He had changed, she could see in an instant.

She felt Kayes slink off the transport behind her and slink off into the city and ignored him, her attention focussed on her brother as he approached them. She felt a thrill of triumph whip through her as he spoke. A failure.

"This has not been the best month for us." He didn't bother to say the list: _A dead Esper, another Garden roaming free, a loose worldshell with who-knows-what information in her brain. A rebellion in the heart of the empire._

She smirked. "It doesn't matter. I have a plan."

Melanthios looked slightly puzzled, but only for just a second. "I thought I was the one who-" he halted as Tisiphone moved in fast as a snake until he could feel her breath on his face.

"We have done it your way. We have tried double-dealing and backstabbing and cowardly moves and they have all _failed_ dear brother. Our enemies have learned our secrets under our noses and are gathering their forces as we speak. Now it is my turn."

Melanthios tried to shut down the rage before Tisiphone sensed it. His body still ached from the wounds inflicted by the damned Sorceress and his temper had frayed ever since he had returned from his soaking-wet humiliation in the Palace and sent Caraway to G-Garden in a fit of rage. He wouldn't allow the loss of control, not in front of _her._ He wouldn't let her see him feeling like _she_ did. "And what do you suggest?" he settled for hissing.

Tisiphone smiled. "I have had an Esper tracking a certain Guardian. From our birthplace to their own."

Melanthios blinked in shock. _You clever bitch._ "You sent-"

"I have the location of Balamb Garden. We-" she stopped as a faint wind whipped through the air behind her. She turned to tell the soldiery to be more careful when suddenly she felt heat bloom on her face. She was already moving back as the transport exploded on the dock, and suddenly the air was alive with gunfire.

Vagrants threw away cloaks to reveal automatic weapons and the hapless Galbadian soldiery were gunned down before they could even realise it. Tisiphone looked around in surprise before her brain kicked into motion. _They assault us on our own dock? How dare they!_

_HOW DARE THEY!_

Her anger reacted before her brain and she had already leaped past for brother and was reaching for the nearest resistance fighter to crush the life out of his skull when the flash of steel close (_too close!)_ to her made her reach an arm up, and she felt a dull _thunk_ and the pain as a blade buried itself in her raised arm instead of her exposed neck. She pivoted on her feet to meet the new threat as suddenly the blade juddered madly in her flesh and she felt her forearm rip open as the gunblade's bullet sent vibrations down its length. She barely registered the pain as the man's hood fell away. "You, I know you."

Seifer grinned as he heaved backwards and the gunblade tore out of her arm, ripping fake muscles and skin as it went. "_Now_."

Melanthios turned as he felt the presence appear behind him. His eyes met Rinoa's and for a single second time stopped. He wanted to reach across the distance and strangle the young woman. Her fault the death of one of his finest tools, her fault his humiliating loss in his own stronghold. Her fault.

The shadows rose up from the ground and Rinoa's arcane power lanced through him. Squall was already rushing forward, but the man in black had lived up to his name and thrown himself aside and behind a wall as the Sorceress energies reduced his shadows (and the ground underfoot) to molten glass. His thoughts of misery mirrored his sisters' in their rage. He turned to shout for help but those Galbadian soldiers not dead or unconscious at the Resistance assault were hunkered down behind whatever cover they could find. _Cowards_ he spat as his mind worked feverishly on a plan, any plan, as he tried to concentrate on the closest Esper while at the same time berating himself for his colossal stupidity for not anticipating the attack.

It was a rout. Tisiphone raged against Seifer, fists swinging wildly, trying to land the single blow that would shatter the man's body like an eggshell, but every blow was met by the man's gunblade.

"Is this all you have! I was expecting more!" Seifer taunted as another attack went wide.

Tisiphone used the momentum of her blocked attack to swing around and smash her backhand against Seifer's side, but the man had already adjusted and it sailed past him. "_DIE!"_ She stepped back to think of her next move and suddenly she _felt_ it and instead of attacking she stepped sideways, looking behind her as she spun.

Shiva stood, just staring at the woman in red. Not even attacking. To Tisiphone this was more galling than any sneak-attack the Guardian bitch could possibly have made and she turned from Seifer with a scream.

Melanthios heard the roar of anger and risked a glance away from his own desperate conflict. He saw his sister ignore the gunblade poised to strike forward as Tisiphone charged the stationary Guardian. If he had a heart it would have froze in his breast as the full force of their situation bore down on him. _They're going to try and kill us here, before help can reach us._ He could see Rinoa and Squall trying to flank him.

_They could do it._

_All my plans for nothing. Ended here because of a god-damn woman._

_I do not accept this._

_I DO NOT!_

He felt his rational mind slip away as his anger finally and irrevocably took control of him. Rinoa and Squall paused and stepped back as the unearthly scream rose from the man's throat and the darkness welled up out of every shadow and every crack in the dock and ran towards and combined at the man's feet. The light vanished as if sucked out of the air itself.

"_LOOK OUT!"_ Squall grabbed Rinoa and pulled her sideways as a massive arm formed out of the blackness pulsating around Melanthios and flew towards her almost, almost fast enough, and suddenly it was the two SeeDs who were on the defensive as the ground grew thorns and reached out to kill.

Melanthios felt the power drain away from him as he unleashed his full power but ignored the voice inside shouting for calm. All he could think of were the two pathetic apes in front of him as they hesitated, their attack broken in seconds. He exulted. _See now how pathetic you truly are. When my weaknesses have been eliminated and I rule this world you will all bow._

Tisiphone snarled at Shiva who still stood motionless with only a slight grin on her face, as the blade sunk into her chest. Before Seifer could react she spun around, forcing the man to let go before he was thrown to the ground, and in that second of imbalance she kicked as hard as she could.

Seifer's eyes went wide as his ribs shattered. He heard Fujin shout his name over the buzz in his eats and tried to wave her away, but his arms felt like lead. He felt a hand grip his jacket and suddenly he was pulled in close and Tisiphone's murder-filled eyes filled his vision.

"Your home is next."

He saw the blow coming towards him. _So, like this huh? Well, there are worse ways to g-_

The thought was never finished, as suddenly the ocean rose up. A silvery shape shimmered through the water and burst out of the ocean spray and the saltwater lashed out to encompass the battlefields as Leviathan breeched.

Tisiphone pushed down and felt the concrete buckle. Cloth tore in her hand and she grabbed madly but Seifer had already been swept away in the deluge. She looked sideways through the murky water and saw the light surrounding the sorceress fading away, away from her and her idiot brother. Galbadian soldiers grasped frantically for any handhold but found none as she stood her ground and just waited as the fury slowly ebbed away.

When the water finally washed out only she and Melanthios remained upright and conscious. The water steamed off his back like he was made of molten iron and she took some small comfort as she walked over to him.

"Do you see now? They strike at us because we humour their existence. Your fear holds you back. Let go of your pathetic dreams of immortality and live with me. For vengeance."

When Melanthios looked up his eyes were black, shadowy tendrils reaching out across his face. Like his pupils had burst and the evil within had finally taken over. "_Yessssss."_

Tisiphone shook her head back and forth. "We attack. We do not wait for hidden plans or schemes. We do not hope on the 'strength' of these apes we have as allies. We gather the Espers and we attack _now_." She snapped her fingers and a Galbadian soldier struggled to attention, his face radiating terror as she looked at him. "Gather the army. Everything you can fit on a boat. Everything that floats. Requisition all civilian hulls. Contact Galbadia Garden and have them move when I order it. We leave for Balamb Garden as soon as we are ready. We will smash their homes and end this pathetic war."

She reached out a hand and Melanthios hauled himself to his feet, already almost dry from the heat radiating off him. He would be more amenable to her methods now, she was sure. His 'project' in Deling could wait until after the humans were fully pacified.

The pair stalked off, ignoring the carnage around them. The concrete slabs were shattered where Tisiphone had fought Seifer or scorched into nothing where Rinoa and Squall had attacked her brother. Blood and broken bodies lay where Resistance bullets had found their targets or the unlucky had been smashed against walls by Leviathan's maelstrom. They left behind a ruin.

The entire battle had taken not more than five minutes.

* * *

"Hey!_ Hey!_" Squall slapped Seifer as the blonde man fell back into unconsciousness. "Don't you walk out on us now you arrogant bastard!"

Seifer gave a throaty chuckle and a thin stream of blood escaped his lips. "Just…a scratch…" He gasped as something inside scraped across his flesh. "_Damn_ she packs a mean roundhouse."

Squall was frantic as he tried to flip between keeping Seifer alive and glancing back to Rinoa.

"I'm fine Squall…Just…exhausted…" Rinoa managed as she leaned her body against the wall and slid down to the floor. Her sorceress powers took a lot out of her and she had spared nothing trying to kill Melanthios. No such luck.

The resistance had no medical staff. Charl, Shiva and the others did the best they could but the groans and cries of those who had come back from the abortive assault were overpowering in the makeshift infirmary. Squall cursed as he wiped sweat from his eyes and wished for the fifth time that Dr Kadowski had somehow made the trip with them.

Squall felt Seifer's hand grasp his own and he tried to force him back onto the bed. "Sit down you dumbass and let me do this." He tore off a length of bandage in his teeth.

"Screw you…Leonheart. Just listen," Seifer Almasy, SeeD traitor, Estharian spy and resistance leader hissed. "I _heard_…her. They're moving…on Balamb. You have to _go_."

Rinoa and Squall both looked up in shock. Charl raised his own head from bandaging up a wounded fighter, caught Squall's eye and shook his head. _He can't travel like that,_ his eyes said.

Squall thoughts were instinct rather than rational decision. But Rinoa beat him to it.

"We have to go." The tiredness had left her instantly and been replaced with worry for others.

"No way," Charl said instantly. "How are you going to get out of Deling like this? You are _known,_ Commander Leonhart. Ms Heartilly. They have guards posted everywhere and after today's little stunt this city will be sewn up tight. Stay her and help _us._"

Squall raised a fist in frustration as if he could have punched the old soldier. _What can I do? Sit here in Deling while they burn my god damn _home_!_

"Y'know, I got an idea."

All heads turned as Raijin entered the room. The huge man had barely taken a scratch, only a small bandana with a red patch on his forehead where some shrapnel had harmlessly whizzed by. Still, Fujin followed closely behind with a worried expression on her face.

"What?" Rinoa asked quickly.

Raijin gestured at the gangly figure leaned over a casualty. "I reckon these folks got a way in and out of places. Why not just ask 'em to take some people along for the ride, y'know?"

Shiva looked up from her ministrations as Raijin pointed to her. She gestured for a nervous-looking young boy to take over as she moved over to the group. She opened her mouth to speak but Squall could already see the answer by the look in her eyes: "No."

"Shiva, _please-"_ Rinoa began.

The Guardian cut her off. "Humans cannot travel the way we do. Even without the risk of the Esper intercepting us, the experience alone... We can't allow it."

"Can't, or won't?" Fujin asked softly.

Shiva glared daggers at the younger woman. She looked at Squall and the look of pleading in the usually stoic man's eyes wasn't a thing she had ever hoped to see. She could hear the voices of her peers in her head.

Leviathan's gentle tones:_ Choose, now, sister. You've fed them lies all their life, lied to them some more and still they are willing to trust you. Surely they deserve some trust in return?_

Her lord Bahamut's voice, imperious in her mind: _No. Not Now, Not Ever. They Are Not Worthy Of The Gifts We Bestow Upon Them, They Will Never See The City With Their Own Eyes. I Demand It._

And a third voice, a one she hadn't heard in years, gone since the Second War ended but still familiar to her as one she had always loved like a brother. Alexander: _It is our duty to help our charges in their time of need._

Rinoa smiled as Shiva looked back up. "Shiva…"

"Squall, Rinoa, Seifer. Only you three." She swept a hand to point at Charl, Fujin and Raijin. "_You_ will remain here and await news of our victory or of our final defeat. Plan accordingly."

"Yes _ma'am,"_ the old Estherian replied with a salute.

"Well let's get a damn move on then," Seifer hissed, before another coughing fit rendered him into insensibility.

Shiva sighed and rubbed her eyes. She felt tired. "You'll be my ruin, Leonheart."

Squall smiled. "At least we'll all be ruined together."

* * *

The Garden was moving. He could feel it under his feet. The lurch as the massive engines deep in the core started up. The just-beyond-hearing whine of the gigantic Shelter halo system. He knew their destination.

_And so, is it everything you thought it would be?_

He sat down in the chair heavily. Not the headmaster's chair. He fancied he could still see the blood on it. "I didn't want it to end like this."

_But how did you expect it to go, Fury? Did you expect the world to roll over and play nice? You should have known we'd fight back. We have our own dreams and we didn't want to meekly accept yours._

"But it was in the name of unity! Progress! _Peace!_"

_And Esthar was to accept this? Loire smashed Adel's tyranny and sent humanity to the stars. He wasn't going to fall like some small-town manager. Esthar has their own idea of what progress is and they did it without shouting for world war._

"I don't…"

_Oh I don't doubt your goal. A united humanity at peace and under one rule at last. But _you_ wanted to sit in the big chair at the head of the table Fury, and don't even try to deny it._

Caraway gulped down the drink and threw the glass against the wall. The crystal shattered. "Those Hyne-damned monsters…"

_Monsters you unleashed and gave the keys to your war machine. They _will_ unite humanity, but only so that humanity is all in one place when the hangman comes. What are they doing down there in your sewers, your secret lab they had you build for them. Do you even know? What's down there you _chose_ not to know about?_

"You're just as insufferable dead as you were alive, Tyynes" he muttered darkly.

_Come now Fury. You saw your chance and you took it. But the fire you thought you could keep in a box has gotten out, and now it's burning down the entire forest._

"I know that! I know!" he shouted. The anger flew out of him and was replaced with nothing but emptiness. "I…I regret it…"

_Then what do you intend to do about it?_

He tried to sink deeper into the chair, away from the voice. "What the hell can I do from here? A prisoner in my own military academy."

_Don't be a fool, general. Think about it. You still hold the keys to a very large set of doors. You can close them whenever you want._

"And what the hell does that mean?"

But the room was silent.

He didn't deny it. He had wanted to see the world united under Galbadian rule. A dream originating from the first man that had ever looked across the world and thought _yes, I can make it happen._ A dream out of reach after the Second War had ended with Galbadia crushed. Then like a miracle _they_ had appeared and told him he could have it all, in exchange for just a few trinkets. But the price had ended up being more than anyone had thought.

And it would become higher still. So much higher.

_I deserve this,_ he thought, as he heard the knock at the door. _But maybe before I exit the stage there's one last contribution I can make._

"Sir, is everything okay in there?" the young G-SeeD asked. The Galbadian Garden was still filled with those SeeDs who had chosen loyalty (and life) to Galbadia rather than be cut down with the rest, and the regular Army had delegated guard duties to them. Their mistake.

Caraway drew himself up to his full height. "Yes. I believe I'm fine." He walked over to the door and the young man – barely more than a boy – shuffled backwards in surprise. "I'll be leaving now. I have work to attend to."

The kid's hand twitched towards his weapon."I have orders from my superiors to-"

"Son," Caraway said dangerously, "my name is Fury Caraway, Secretary-General of Galbadia. I _am_ your superior."

He strode off into the Garden. _His_ Garden. He had one last task to perform as the leader of his nation. His thoughts ran to his daughter, braver than he could ever have been, he saw that now.

Maybe there was still a way he could make her proud.

* * *

_Don't open your eyes. Don't even be tempted. I have no idea what may happen. You might not come through at all. Your minds might snap like twigs._

_And in Hyne's name _don't make any sound at all!

Two out of three had obeyed.

"Rin? _RIN!"_

Squall felt his knees buckle and fall onto a familiar surface as he heard the strangled gasp, and his eyes snapped open in time to see white mist dissipate in front of him, and Rinoa collapsing to the ground of the Balamb Garden concourse. He opened his mouth to shout but Shiva was faster.

"_MEDICAL!"_

Shocked students recovered their wits and ran in as they recognised the face of their commander, and Squall felt hands gently pry his own away from Rinoa.

"We'll take care of it sir, just stand back."

As Rinoa was lifted away from him he felt another more crushing weight take her place. He was exhausted. He fell backwards and sat cross-legged on the marble floor, panting heavily. Shiva stood over him with reassuring words as Seifer, still cursing and complaining, was stretchered away by the Garden medical team, observed by…

"Well Leonheart. You do find the most interesting ways of making an entrance." Dr. Kadowaki stood over the chaos, her very presence reassuring the crowd that had gathered. She placed a palm over Rinoa's forehead. "She's just exhausted. How did she _get_ like this? Squall, what have you been doing over there?"

Squall shook his head. "There's no time. Get Nida. We have to move the Garden _now._" He stood as he felt his strength returning and turned away from Rinoa. His heart shouted anger at the move but he had other things to attend to. "Take care of Rin. I'm going to the bridge."

"And what about…?"

Squall sighed. "Take care of him too."

He felt Shiva fall into step with him as he walked. "We're going to need everything we have. We can stop them here, I know it. Can you get everyone here?"

"I can ask, but…"

Squall stopped at the doorway to the bridge, turned to look at his companion and searched desperately for the words he needed. "We need you Shiva. Your people did some unpleasant things all those years ago, but that's in the past now. You're different from that time now. We might not always have treated you as equals, but you've always been there for us before, and we've always been grateful. Make up for that past now, and we can all move forward. Together."

The door slid open soundlessly and Squall saw Nida turning from Ellone and a blonde SeeD. He didn't waste any time. "Galbadian are on their way. They know, somehow."

"I'm sorry Squall, I think that's our fault," the woman said.

Squall turned in surprise. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met, how do you kn- _SIREN?" _He stared in shock. The Siren he had left behind on the Esthar docks months ago barely resembled the young woman in front of him now. _I mistook her for a SeeD, what the hell happened!_

If Squall was surprised, Shiva looked ready to erupt. Siren nodded and began talking before the Guardian could explode right there on the bridge. "We were followed back from Centra, I'm sorry."

"It's not their fault Squall," Ellone said softly. "No-one realised it until we were here."

Squall felt the pit of his stomach lurch. "Then it's here, right now?"

Nida nodded. "It's circling above us as we speak Commander. It's not attacking or going anywhere. It's just…there."

"It acts as a lighthouse," Shiva said quietly. "To guide those who follow."

"We have more knowledge now," Siren said quickly. "We brought back…things…from the DSRF. We've sent pictures and everything we learned to Esthar. Mr- I mean President Loire says Odine went _wild_. They'll have something for us as soon as they can."

"We prepare _now_," Squall went on. "Evacuate the lowerclassmen to the lifeboats and send them to Esthar. Every SeeD that can fight and every trainee willing to stay. Call Esthar and Trabia until you can reach them." He turned from the window to look at his comrades.

"This is it. They'll send everything they have against us. Every Esper and every soldier they have will be coming. We'll meet them with everything we have. If we lose here all of humanity will pay the price. We stand or we fall. Here, at Balamb Garden."

"We're with you," Shiva said with a nod.

"We won't let you down Commander," Nida said, and saluted.

"You won't be alone," Ellone said softly.

_We've come this far. We can't be stopped here. I won't allow it._

"Then let's get to work."

* * *

"The prodigal son has returned. Glad to see me?"

Quistis sighed. "Still with the attitude after all these years?"

Seifer chuckled, ignoring the pain that shot through his chest. "Takes more than a broken chest to keep me down instructor, you should know that."

"That's _Headmaster_ to you, Almasy, if you insist on keeping up this façade." She glances sideways and Seifer caught the motion. "Rinoa's fine by the way. Just utterly exhausted. What were you _doing_ in Deling all those days?"

"Fighting. Building an army. Trying to destroy un-killable demons. You?"

Against her better judgement Quistis felt a small grin escape her lips. "Digging through ruins. Meeting ancient monsters. Walking across a continent. You win I think."

Seifer sighed. "Well, looks like you brought back some trouble with you. Just like you."

Quistis eyes narrowed. "I had enough time to learn from the master."

"Ah, finally a bit of bite. Could have used that back when you were an instructor. You'll do fine Trepe, don't let the bastards get you down."

"I don't intend to." Quistis stood and prepared to walk out of the room. "Get on your feet soon Almasy." She tossed something at him and he landed on his chest.

It was a SeeD emblem. Seifer tensed up. "Are you serious?"

"It's been a long time since that training operation in Dollet, Seifer."

"No offence ins- Headmaster but no way will Squall let this-"

Quistis shrugged. "I'm his superior. Unless he wants to stage a coup, and I don't think he cares about you _that_ much. If he tried I'd probably end up on your side." She smiled. "A terrible start to my tenure."

Seifer pinned the badge to his ruined shirt. It felt _good_ to feel its presence there. "Well, I don't think it'll come to that." A wild thought ran through his head and his mouth acted before his brain could clamp it shut: "Do you ever wonder what could been Trepe, if things had turned out differently?"

Quistis stared at him in silence for a moment, eyes widened slightly as if unable to believe what she had heard. The two soldiers watched each other for a moment, until: "The past is done with Seifer. You should look towards the future." She walked out of the infirmary, and Seifer was left with only the faint sound of Rinoa's breathing for company.

_I'm trying Trepe. I'm trying real hard._

* * *

"Have you lost your_ mind!"_

Siren stared back unblinkingly, without fear. "I'm thinking clearly Shiva. I know what I'm-"

"I don't believe you," Shiva raged.

They were stood in an empty classroom. Students hurried out by their elders and teachers had glanced in surprise and a little awe as Shiva had railroaded her younger sister into the room. "I don't believe you could do this. Have you no loyalty? Have you no-"

"_Loyalty to what?"_ Siren almost shouted back. "What are you so angry about? That I'm doing this or that I have a _reason_ for it?"

Shiva was shocked by the sheer force of will in Siren's voice and didn't realise she had stepped back until she felt the desk behind her bump against her legs. "I don't-"

"What are we living for Shiva, back in that place? So f…_fucking_ scared of them discovering us and trying to take us down _like we did to the Espers!"_

"Don't talk to me about back then," Shiva said quietly.

If Siren heard the danger in her voice she ignored it. "You can sit there in your fake city and spend all time worrying and following orders from that…that _thing_ that sits in the middle and orders us around like cattle but I _won't!"_ Siren took a deep breath and when she next spoke her voice was calm. "I have something to live for down here. I can have a _life_ here!"

"A _short_ one!"

"Even if it is it'll be better than anything _your kind_ can have up there," Siren shot back.

She wouldn't admit it. She wouldn't back down. How could she? To face the very thought, any inkling that all her life had been spent watching and waiting. For the next big threat to Guardians. Too busy protecting their way of life (_and is it life, really?)_ to actually do anything with it.

_I have had eternity and done nothing with it except kil-_

_NO!_

The two women faced off.

"You've made your choice then?"

"I have."

"Then live with it." Shiva waved a finger at her sister no longer. "But you will tell them nothing."

Siren smiled in return. "They- _we'll_ find out on our way. They're smarter than we were. Eventually they'll know everything. Between Esthar and garden and whatever this 'knowledge recorder' can- Shiva?"

The look of cold fury and black impatience on Shiva's face had been replaced with what Siren could only identify as absolute terror. When Shiva next spoke her voice was barely audible. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Quistis told me about it," Siren said in puzzlement. She gasped as Shiva grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her closer.

"_Tell no-one," _the ice-guardian said in a voice that was more animal than human. _"Tell no-one the name."_

Siren wrenched away from Shiva's death-grip and looked back at her once-sister in shock. "I…why?"

Shiva shivered and ran a hand over her face, like she had had ice-water thrown at her. "Siren please believe me, that's not something that should ever be discussed. _Ever._" She raised a hand to forestall the inevitable question. "I'm sorry, Siren, I'm so sorry. First Ifrit, then Cerberus. Carbuncle is…I can barely feel him, out there somewhere. Now you're leaving me." _Before you were my sister you were my daughter._ "Please, just trust me. One last time."

Siren hesitated a moment before nodding.

"Thank…thank you." She took a deep breath to regain her composure. "It's been…a trying time. For all of us."

Siren gave a short nod. "We'll feel better in the morning."

Shiva raised an eyebrow. "You sleep now?"

A shrug in return. "It takes some getting used to, but…"

The two left the classroom, chatting amiably. Still waters on the surface hiding deep currents beneath. Shiva knew things would never be the same between them again. The lie she had told felt like a lump of hot iron in her gut. The name Siren had let fall from her lips had awakened ancient memories she had no desire to disturb. She had to tell someone. Someone who would know what to do. The risk was too great.

One person would know.

* * *

Waters churned in the distance. Men and ships hurried to breakneck speed as machines were oiled and prepared. Worried men looked up as inhuman shapes stalked through the skies above the docklands and a red woman with anticipation painted on her face walked the rows of gleaming killing engines with a smile, a man following somehow cowed like they hadn't seen him before.

Ships rocked in the wake as they left the shores, loaded and heavy in the water with hundreds of tons of men and armaments. Espers gathered from across the globe once more whipped through the skies, responding to their masters' emotions and goaded into a killing mood. The entire might of a nation and a dead race's final weapons focused to a killing point, and at the tip of that point the single shining light they were going to smash into ribbons.

The Galbadian's final assault on Balamb Garden had begun.


	27. The Lion and the Tiger

"How's it looking? Like we shouldn't start reading any long books?"

"Like we shouldn't start reading any long sentences," Nida muttered. He dropped the binoculars and turned to Squall. "Sorry Commander. Garden's fast but they'll be on us within forty-eight hours, maximum."

Squall shook his head. "Just keep us pointed east Nida," he said as he turned to leave. He felt Quistis fall into step with him as he walked back to the elevator. "No use."

"We knew it would come to this," Quistis said.

"The young students need to be ready to leave in the survival craft as soon as we know it's safe." His mind raced. "Make sure Shiva and the other Guardians know the plan for when the attack begins. Err…Make sure the communication centre is fortified, we're going to need constant contact with Esthar and anyone else in the area. Try and make sure there are medical teams and volunteers on every floor of- you've already done all this haven't you?"

"Of course."

"What exactly is it that I do around here?"

Quistis smiled. "Command."

Squall sighed. "I'm still not sure exactly what that means."

Quistis laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Poor Squall. Trust me; just…do what you do best. People will follow you. They always have." Quistis could feel the muscles tensed under his clothing. "You seem a little stressed out Squall. Not just because of…this. What's wrong?" Squall looked at her and she realised instantly. "Oh."

"What the hell am I supposed to feel, Quisty"? Squall asked.

Quistis was shocked. Squall _never_ used the orphanage's pet names. "This is really tearing you up isn't it?" Realisation flashed through her head. "Squall you can't seriously believe Rinoa would leave you for…"

"No! No, of course not!"

"You're going to have to deal with him someday." She sighed. "I gave him a SeeD badge."

He rounded on her. "_You did what!_"

Quistis glared back at him. "He earned it Squall."

"He…I don't _believe_ you did that," he muttered.

"We'll have to agree to disagree on the exact merits of Seifer's contributions towards today. For now all you need to know is that _I_ decided it was the right thing to do." She sighed. "What did you expect? That he'd become some outgoing friendly member of the team now that he's on the right side? He's _Seifer,_ Squall. He's arrogant and cocksure and utterly self-absorbed. If I recall correctly _you _used to be an insular, gloomy, aloof shut-in." She snorted. "The only difference now is that you talk more."

They stared each other down. In the end Squall was the one who broke the silence. "Then what do I do, Quistis?"

Quistis shook her head as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. "I don't know," she said as she left. "But find a way to deal with all this bad blood one way or the other. Because I know if either of you die before you fix this ridiculous grudge, the survivor will never stop regretting it.

* * *

Siren stared out at the ocean. The steel armada lurked on the horizon like a plague threatening to break out at any moment. For now she drew some small comfort that at least soon all the worry and anticipation would be over.

"Well?"

_Hyne, this is really weighing on her, isn't it? _"I didn't tell anyone, Shiva, I promised. I can't speak for Quistis but I keep my promises to my siblings." _Most times._ And _that_ little voice she ignored.

Shiva couldn't stop a small sigh of relief escaping her lips. Thank you." She stood next to Siren on the quad. "What are you going to do after this is over?" she asked.

Siren shrugged. "I'll join SeeD I suppose, if it's still around. I- We'll figure something out."

"I envy you, you know." Siren looked around in shock and saw the look of wistful longing on Shiva's face. The ice Guardian saw the look and nodded. "After this we probably won't meet again."

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked. She drew her SeeD-issued jacket tighter around her. It felt chillier, suddenly.

Shiva shook her head. "Nothing. Just…it's nothing." She turned from the view and embraced her sister. "I wish you happiness, Siren. However the battle ends." She withdrew. "You always were apart from the rest of us, so much closer to the humans."

Siren shrugged and felt her cheeks turning red. "I always felt more…alive…around them than with other Guardians."

_Oh child, I wish I could tell you why. _Maybe she could have once. But Siren had made her choice_. _She was no longer one of them."The heart wants what the heart wants," she settled for. She turned to leave. "Keep your head above the water, Siren."

"You too, Shiva," Siren replied as she watched her elder sister leave. But the cold didn't leave with her.

* * *

"Well well, come to visit the invalid? Sorry to disappoint you."

Seifer was already up. Squall could see the bloodied bandages lying in the garbage. "Just checking in. We're going to need your sword-arm at least."

"If not the rest of me." Seifer saw where Squall's gaze was pointed. "Looks good doesn't it?" He adjusted the SeeD badge on his lapel. "Always knew I'd wear it well."

"You're a real piece of work you know that?" Squall spat out.

Seifer grinned back without embarrassment. "Hey come on Leonheart. You still one-up me in one way at least."

Squall blinked in confusion, and then: "Don't you _dare_ talk about Rinoa like she's some trophy to-"

Seifer snorted in amusement. "No, I wouldn't do that." He waved his hand around. "From a snotty-nosed brat who ran to his sister when I beat him up, and now you command an entire military. Nice work if you can get it."

"I earned it. All you earned is a cell. I don't know what Quistis is thinking."

Seifer sneered. The two had been gradually edging closer until they were staring down each other's eyes. "Oh come on _Commander_. You keep talking at me like its six years ago and we're still teenagers. My debts are paid."

"Not as far I'm concerned," Squall hissed.

The two faced off. Seifer looked on in amusement. Squall merely with intense dislike. His stomach churned as he recalled what Quistis had told him. "Fine." He stepped back.

"What?" Seifer asked bluntly.

Squall was already headed to the door. "Meet me in the training room in two hours."

Seifer grinned. "Are you serious? You don't have any scruples about beating up an invalid?"

Squall gripped the door as he turned. "Right now I'd punch you if you were unconscious. Think you can have a go at not cheating this time?"

"I wouldn't dream of missing the chance to kick your ass fair and square."

"We'll settle this."

"Once and for all."

* * *

"And you're just going to let them do it?" Rinoa almost shouted at Quistis across the table. She glanced sideways to see others were staring and sat back down.

Quistis nodded as she took a bite of her salad. "It was going to come down to this in the end Rin. You didn't realise that when you met them both?"

Rinoa wrung her hands. "They're both strong-willed I know, but…"

Quistis shook her head. "Rin I love you like a sister but I can't believe _you_ of all people didn't spot it."

"Alright I admit; I _didn't_ spot it! I just don't understand Quisty. They spent all that time fighting together in Deling! Squall saved Seifer's life!"

"And he did it because otherwise Seifer would have haunted him for the rest of Squall's life."

"Why can't they both just…_get along_?"

Quistis dropped her fork and leaned back in her chair. She'd run the situation over and over in her mind, back when they had all been SeeDs together, and then again during the Second War, and one final time after the whole bloody mess had ended and the chances of the two men ever meeting again had been almost zero. She had finally found her answer.

"It's about their lives Rin. Squall and Seifer were both orphans. We all were. It made us lonely and we all tried to solve that loneliness in different ways. Squall relied on his sister to connect him to the rest of the humanity, but Seifer never relied upon anyone. Squall depended on Ellone to tell him that that he mattered and when Ellone was taken he lost that reassurance. Seifer decided that rather than rely on anyone else he'd make others rely on _him_, and he wore his heart on his sleeve to prove it, and people followed him for that honesty."

"But why do they hate each other so much?"

"Because each of them wanted to be right. Squall wanted proof that being alone wasn't so bad and Seifer was the living embodiment of the opposite. Seifer wanted everyone to acknowledge him, and Squall refused to acknowledge anyone. They played off each other like fire and oil." Quistis shrugged. "In the end, you appeared."

"And Seifer won," Rinoa breathed as she realised what Quistis was saying.

Quistis nodded. "Seifer won when Squall fell in love with you and was forced to realise a life lived alone is no life at all." She stood and checked her timepiece. "Do you want to come and watch?"

Rinoa hesitated. "Do…do you think I should?"

"Rin…"

"They both matter to me Quisty. I don't want to see them hurting each other."

Quistis sighed. "Come and see, Rinoa. You can help pick up the pieces. It's what everyone involved with those two ends up doing eventually."

* * *

"First one to fall uconscious loses." Seifer stood across the clearing from Squall, throwing his gunblade from hand to hand. It was unloaded.

"Rules?" Squall paced back and forth swinging aimlessly.

Neither of them were using their combat weapons. Squall had recovered the blade he had brought with him to Garden all those years ago, still dusty from the long sleep in his room. Seifer had unburied his own weapon from Garden storage and shined it to a mirror-sheen.

"None at all." He lunged.

Seifer met Squall's blade plumb and the sound rang out through the building. The blonde spun and tried to catch Squall on the side of the head with his own but Squall's blade was already moving and met it there. The first foray devolved into a series of sharp blows as each tested the other. They were incomparably different fights from the last time they had clashed blades. Squall had honed his edge in innumerably fights in the Second War and Seifer had developed an animal cunning from weeks of being the tip of the Resistance spear.

Squall jumped back as Seifer lunged and felt a moment of panic as he felt the thick bulk of a tree at his back. He slid down and kicked up and was rewarded as Seifer's blade _thunk_ed into the tree-trunk and Seifer's sharp exhale as his boot found its mark. Squall rolled out as Seifer pulled backwards with all his might and ripped the wood to shreds as the gunblade flew out.

The two men eyed each other warily. "Not bad."

"Just a warm-up," Seifer replied, and fell backwards into the trees.

Squall cursed and followed into the undergrowth.

* * *

"So it's come to this?"

Quistis shrugged at Shiva's question. She glanced sideways at Rinoa, who was biting her lip and looking worried as she tried to keep an eye on the two fighters as they clashed through the undergrowth of the training centre, only the sound of steel-on-steel and the occasional unlucky creature chopped down as it got in the way marking their progress. "It had to eventually."

Shiva sighed. "If only I could solve my own problems so easily."

"_You_ have problems?"

"Quistis, Squall asked me a question once, not so long ago. I'd like to ask it to you now."

"Shoot."

"Are we friends?"

Quistis blinked in surprise, but she didn't hesitate. "Of course."

"What do you know about something called the knowledge recorder?"

Quistis stared down at the duel below, and it was silent minutes before she answered. "When we were looking for answers on Battleship Island, I met a thing I thought was dead."

"I know of the creature. It's more of a concept than a real being, something that just…came into being. It lives to hate others. Something like that doesn't die, even if you kill it."

Quistis shivered, even in the humid warmth of the Centre. "It told me things. Things I won't repeat. But it mentioned the name as a gift, it said. I can only assume it knew what we were after-"

"It did. It would have taken the information from your own head to use against you, Quistis. All it does is lie, lie and try to turn you against your friends."

"I know." Quistis shrugged. "I ignored it. We had what we came for." A smile came to her lips. "I've read the tablets now, ever since we got back. There's wonderful information there. Not just magic theory, information about who _they_ were, who they had been. We were mentioned."

"We?"

"Humanity. They called us Young Ones." Quistis shook her head in resignation. "What a shame, we could have learned a lot if only they hadn't been- _Oh!_ I'm sorry, I just-"

"Don't apologise Quistis," Shiva said. "We deserve it. Alexander said if we fought for justice for a thousand generations we might begin to wash off the stain. I didn't believe him back then. Now? I think maybe even that won't be enough."

"You've helped more than you can imagine Shiva. All of you did," Quistis said softly.

"I only…I just wanted to ask a request."

"Of course."

"Keep what you know to yourself."

Quistis stared at the other woman and brought forth all her years of reading lies and intent in the faces of others, but Shiva's face was a blank wall to her. She was tempted to ask _why_ but knew she'd get no answer. She settled for: "It's serious?"

"As the grave."

_It will hardly matter this time in two days._ "Okay. What else are friends for?"

"Thank you." She turned at the sound of clashing steel and sighed. " They're like two children."

* * *

He wiped the blood out of his eyes and charged. Both were exhausted. Both were nearing their limits.

The blades met full-on and the force of it sent cracks rippling down his blade. His arm felt like it would come apart. He blocked a swing with what seemed like gargantuan effort and tried to bring his own blade above his head, but his arms screamed for mercy and he settled for a side swipe met on by his opponent's sword.

He wiped the sweat from his eyes as he stepped back for distance but he followed, and he almost fell backwards. The stumble saved him as the blade fell past where he would have been. His opponent tried to halt the swing in surprise but the effort was too much and he catapulted into each other, blades meeting as they were close enough to feel each other's breath.

"Are you…satisfied…yet?"

"Not…even…_close!"_

He hauled with all the strength he had left, and the other was pushed backwards. The clearing around the duellists was a ruin, trees felled and the floor slippery with dank leaves torn from overgrowth and bushes they had run to.

They eyed each other warily.

"So…this is it huh?" he managed to gasp out. The act of breathing hurt his lungs.

"Any…regrets?" his opponent asked.

The laugh welled up from within him and escaped into the clearing. At the edge of his rapidly-blurring vision he could see the three women look on with concern. One was already moving down the stairs of the observation platform towards him. "Time to…end this…nonsense."

"Suit…yourself."

The blades rise together. Each the mirror of the other.

As the two men lunge time stops in the clearing. The only sound is the perfect crystal ringing of steel slicing through air and each other as the blades connect. The gunblades obey their master's wills and hold fast, refusing to yield to its twin.

They pivot. The air turns a bright as consciousness fades and all their self is focussed on the final strike. Finally the strength leaves one and he dips only an inch but it's enough and the blade's side merely grazes him, but he's so focussed on his own exultation that he doesn't see the fist slam into his chest and drives the wind from his lungs as it

_connects_

and everything goes dark. He sees the look of victory on the other man's face but it doesn't last long as both of them fall to the ground, and the only thing left is who will hit

first.

* * *

He came to in the infirmary, and the first thing he saw was an angry Rinoa staring down at him.

"Are you happy now?"

Squall nodded. He winced at the pain in his neck. "Yeah. I am."He could feel the ocean breeze coming in from the open window. It felt good. He could feel the calm inside him, a place that had roiled and thrashed inside him for so long finally put to rest. Now he knew. _You were right, Seifer._ "Rinoa?"

"What?"

"Marry me."

He waited a minute. Then another minute. He looked at her with concern. "Rinoa, did you hear-"

Then she slapped him.

"_YOU IDIOT!"_ Tears welled up in her eyes. "You waited until _now?_"

"If the answer's no then I can always go and see if-"

"It's yes, you dumb fool." She leaned forward and kissed him with a force that surprised Squall. When she withdrew the smile on her face could have lit up the room. "It's always been yes."

"Forgive me for waiting so long?" Squall asked quietly as they embraced.

"Always."

They sat in the infirmary for the rest of the night until Dr Kadowaki discharged him. On the way back to their room Quistis passed them silently and handed Squall a single piece of paper before hurrying off. Squall moved to open it but Rinoa's hand clasped his. _Not tonight. Please._

He read it anyway. Five words that took his happiness and locked it away. Whether they would have a chance to unlock it would rest in their own hands.

_Three hours. They are here._


	28. Towers Wrought from Heavens

There was no warning.

The Esper went from a dot on the horizon to a vague outline to a winged and barbed shape within a second. It didn't slow as it approached the Garden and the first reaction they could manage was just to dive out of the way as it smashed into the lower-level like a bomb. Men blinked in shock as limbs were torn by the whirling blades that sliced through steel and concrete as the Esper dug in and skidded to a halt in the centre of the concourse.

Shiva met it there.

No longer caring any mind to her diminished reservoirs or power she stood her ground as the thick-set Esper hurled a massive arm-blade at her. Magic was a part of her and she required no rote memorisation or tricks of the mind to incorporate what Quistis had passed on from the ancient records. She met the blade with an upward-swinging fist, air and water-spray solidifying around it into the form of a razor-sharp blade, and was rewarded when it was the Esper's blade and not her own that cracked.

Time seemed to freeze for a second and as her eyes met Haramad's she would have swore the Esper paused in shock. Then the creature was bellowing as it wrenched the cracked blade free and stepped forward to lunge, but Shiva danced away exultantly and the swing hit nothing but air.

_It can be done. We can hurt them!_

Suddenly windows cracked and the air became alive with whizzing metal as Galbadian soldiers smashed through doors and glass windows on their powered lifters, SeeDs returning fire from wherever they had found cover. Shiva dragged out whatever power she could find from her junction and hoped it wasn't too much as icicles flew through the air and embedded themselves with a sick _thunk_ into the Esper that was desperately trying to close the distance between her and itself. In another, earlier time she might have laughed or mocked the slow creature, the massive and slow blades almost the worst possible choice to face her. Now she just concentrated on dodging those massive limb-crushing blows and finishing him off as fast as she could. More would be coming.

* * *

Rinoa ducked back around the wall as a bullet flew close enough by her face to ruffle her hair. She looked back at Squall. "Are you okay? How's Shiva doing?"

"How do I look?" Squall asked.

Rinoa looked closer. Squall looked drained, especially considering neither of them had had direct contact with the enemy yet. "Like you took a shot on the chin."

"Then Shiva's doing fine." He ducked behind the low balcony of the concord's upper level and found himself next to a terrified-looking SeeD barely old enough to hold the pistol he was trying to reload. "You okay?"

"D…doing fine sir." The boy's terrified glance and shaking fingers betrayed his brave words.

Squall gently took the pistol from the young SeeD cadet's hands. "Take the elevator to the classrooms and get a report from the patrols there," he said calmly. He shook his head as the boy ran off and kneeled down where he had stood. From up here he could see the first waves of Galbadian troops coming. Whoever was commanding them was sending them forward into a meat grinder: SeeD sharpshooters and para-mages flung bullets and magical fire at them as Shiva and the Esper held deadly court in the centre of the tableaux. "It's her, Tisiphone," he whispered. He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced across at Rin before looking back down. "She's just sending them all forward to die."

Rinoa tugged him away. "We have to go check the other sectors," she said.

"Why?" Squall asked bitterly. "They're just pouring in from one place. Stupid humans, what else are they good for, right?"

His answer was a dull thud, and the ground shuddered beneath them. The Esper below, caught mid-swing, lost its footing, and in one graceful move Shiva moved sideways past the beast, arms moving in a complex motion, and ragged tears appeared in its flesh as it tried to get a bead on her.

"She's going to suck me dry at this rate."

"Come _on."_

* * *

"_In front!"_

The first Galbadian soldier through the crack fell as Quistis' whip slashed past him, thorned end catching on the poor man's neck and tearing his throat open. Others swarmed in as the man fell gurgling to the floor, using the fallen blocks and concrete of the hole in Garden's side as cover, and Quistis fell back as her short-range weapon rebounded from stone and marble.

Guns tried to track the SeeD, but the Galbadian commander hadn't taken into account that the area directly behind the Garden's main entrance was used for something other than classrooms. The Galbadian military had boarded straight into a very literal jungle. Instead of attacking into the undefended rear of the building they had smashed through the hull into a Training Room full of angry occupants.

Poison stingers and claws rose from the underbrush as the monsters rushed the confused invaders. Gunfire spat out and felled many but those few that managed to get close inflicted terrible damage. Fire rushed through the chaos as SeeDs added their own hell to the mixture. _"Keep fighting!"_ Quistis shouted as she called up her own power and spat it into the maelstrom. The Galbadians fell back out of the Garden, and a cheer went up from the SeeDs as the area was suddenly empty of attackers. The peace was short-lived.

The SeeD closest to the wall took the first blast and disappeared in a torrent of arclight as electricity smashed through the wall behind him. Quistis had no time to shout a warning as the writhing doom sparked across the air and incinerated a nearby tree, sending out tendrils to caress the ground which burst into flame, or onto unwary or simply unlucky soldiers that screamed as energy burned into their bodies and blistered flesh.

Adrammelech floated almost serenely through the gap, electricity skittering over its scrimshawed carapace, hands raised as if in supplication, and anything too close burned up in the ferocious storm. The wall cracked and buckled and suddenly the hull was rent in two to reveal churning ocean andthe boarding craft on the other side.

"Now!" Quistis shouted, and covered her eyes as the Esper descended into their midst. The reply came instantly.

Quetzalcotl burst through the clouds, whole body folded around itself as it arrowed down on its demonic equivalent, but not fast enough as the Esper reached out and a shield of lightning met the Guardian head-on on a blinding flash. It was enough however as Quistis shouted orders and the mere human combatants withdrew as fast as they could from the room as sparks flew off and ignited the woody enclosure.

_Just a little more…_

* * *

Seifer faced down the Galbadian soldiers armed only with a grin on his face and a gunblade over his shoulder. A collection of SeeD irregulars scattered and hidden around the room too, but the men down the corridor pointing guns at him didn't need to know that.

"Only one man's ever beaten me. You think you guys are better than him?" He glanced across the faces of the men arrayed in front of him and felt a (very slight, he told himself) pang of relief when he saw a face he recognised from his _own_ time fighting with the G-Army. "I remember you Ronove. If you're so eager to die here might as well go out facing the strongest man here." He sneered as he readied his weapon. "Don't worry, there's no shame in losing to the best."

For a moment nobody moved. Only a faint cough from the man he had pinpointed in the sea of blue uniforms. Then almost as one man they turned and moved aside as another joined them. Seifer grinned. "The whipped dog finally returns."

Duo Kayes looked across at Seifer from behind the guns of his comrades. "Almasy. Guess you'd know a lot about being whipped."

Light shimmered and warped as Diablos faded into view. _"First by a young dog and then by his bitch. Somewhat of a hobby I'd say."_

_And that entitles you to no mercy, none at all, you ghastly piece of shit_. "You here to face me, Kayes?" he said, pointedly ignoring Diablos. "Come out from behind your tame rifles then."

"I'm not so dumb. In fact-" Kayes stopped, frowned, and was suddenly flying backwards as Diablos grabbed him by the collar and roughly threw him down the corridor. The air itself seemed to brighten and suddenly the Galbadian soldiers were cursing wildly as pinpoints of light danced in front of their eyes.

"_SIREN!"_ Diablos screamed out as Kayes picked himself up off the floor with a glare at his partner. _"I know this little light-show is yours!"_ his hand whipped out and picked a glowing mote out of the air, where it's light faded as gravity crushed it into nothing. "_Come out and die, sister!"_

Seifer grinned. "She doesn't have to, she has me. Now." And he was glad he waited long enough before moving behind cover. The shock on Diablos' face as the ceiling collapsed and rained stone down on him was a picture. When the dust cleared Seifer was gone.

"_Fuck!"_ Diablos brushed a chunk of concrete off his shoulder and looked up. Even a silver lining to this sudden cloud was denied him; the hole made by the explosives that led to the upper level had been blocked off in advance, and went nowhere. The black Guardian looked around at the crushed and battered soldiery, and reached down to lift a moaning Kayes to his feet. _"Let's go,"_ he snarled.

Kayes brushed himself off and was about to curse when he felt a chill. He looked down to see his shadow moving unnaturally, and tapped Diablos. The Guardian looked around to snarl but stopped as the form of a man stepped forward out of the dust.

"Well?" Melanthios asked shortly.

"_Delays,"_ Diablos shot back.

The man in black raised his eyes to look at the pair. Where before there might have been amusement or merely boredom, now there was a barely-hidden fury that could have rivalled his sibling's. Diablos cursed inwardly. The worldshell would be all the more dangerous now that he no longer had the grip on sanity he had once had. "You have your targets. Get to work," the man hissed as he walked past them, shadows flowing to follow him. Diablos didn't respond, only nodded agreement and followed. At least, not out loud.

_I have my own targets here._

_Your time's coming._

* * *

Less than an hour had passed. The battle had stalled as Galbadians had run out of cover between their position on the central entrance and rear breach at the training room and risked decimation if they tried to approach the fortified upper levels or spokes. They were trapped in two spokes of the six that made up the lower level of the Garden. There was another reason, also.

The body of Haramad stood, dissipating gently in the ocean breeze, the ground turned slippery and pierced with razor-sharp icicles where Shiva had finally slipped past and broken his defences to land the killing blow. Shiva's final ice-cold lance had gone clean through the Esper's magical heart, and it propped up the demon as it kneeled there fading away into nothing. Its very presence was a damper on the assault, and a boon to the SeeDs.

Squall and Rinoa were at the top of the stairs, looking down as blue shapes swarmed over the Garden. _His_ Garden.

_Why don't they come forward?_

"It's because they're afraid of you," Quistis whispered to him.

He looked over at the woman. She had looked none the worse for wear from her own battle, even though the first thing that had alerted him to her presence when she arrived at the main front had been the rough smell of charred flesh. "Of _me?"_

"Of course you, Squall. Those men down there are all survivors of the Second War."

Rinoa couldn't resist the urge to giggle. "And here they are, fighting you again! How unlucky."

Squall sighed. He could hear the pounding of very large guns coming from outside. G-Garden's artillery had finally found its voice. He dreaded to think what might be happening on the upper floors, but he had left that area safely in Nida's hands. "I wish they'd hurry up." Any attack would have to be made across the wide-open space of the concord, and he wouldn't order anyone into certain death.

As if hearing and obeying his quiet command, the Garden seemed to rock. Water suddenly foamed over the floors, but it wasn't the water of the ocean. It rose up, tapering as it did so, thin tendrils extending and thickening, metal seeming to form out of nothing and piercing the grotesque lips of the form's head as Cuchulainn made himself known. SeeDs on the lower-levels cried out as their footing suddenly became unstable in the slimy water that had far more force than less than a centimetre of water should have had, and the Galbadians roared and surged forward as the grinning Esper attacked.

_Finally, dear Hyne finally._ Squall grabbed the communicator on his lapel. "Nida! Do it now!"

The response was instant. Squall and Rinoa and Quistis grabbed onto anything they could grab as Balamb Garden lurched and the pits of their stomachs fell out. Galbadians turned and shouted as suddenly water sprayed up out of the concord they had came in via.

"_Everybody up!"_ Quistis shouted as SeeDs ran past her in the rising tide. She ran down the stairs, one hand gripping the railing, and hauled a soaked cadet out of the water and past her to the elevator.

Rinoa turned to Shiva. "Please, tell them it's time."

Shiva nodded as she looked back with disgust at the Esper. It wasn't moving forward, it had no eyes, and any expression it had besides grim humour was swallowed up by the tumour-like flow of dirty water beneath its translucent skin, but she could still feel it looking at her. It was hungry.

* * *

Nida's hands ran over the controls of the Shelter flight system. He had never been a fighter like Commander Leonheart, or a tactician like Ins- Headmaster Trepe. He had never been gifted with genius, but when he had decided to do something by Hyne nobody ever found a better worker. When the Garden had first uprooted itself he had seen something he could truly excel at, and embraced it. It responded to his touch now. _Squall, I really hope you know what you're doing._

The massive flight-halos slowed as he turned the driver systems down and the Garden sank into the sea. _Easy now, easy._

His hands stopped and he barely dared to breath as the Garden settled in its new state. Sparks and light came from underwater as the ancient Centran machinery was submerged, but it held fast. Galbadians who had been able to look behind them and see their landing craft and supply route now saw only murky and increasingly bloodstained water.

B-garden's lower-level was now under the ocean.

SCENE BREAK

"It worked!" Rinoa exulted as panicked soldiers tried to find their footing in the water.

"Now let's make it wo-"

Shiva stood bolt-upright. _"NO!"_

"Shiva? What's wrong?" Rinoa shouted as she saw the panicked look on Shiva's face.

Shiva looked back down at the young woman and was about to answer when a jarring screech made explanation unnecessary.

Adrammelech strode through the water out of the training room, and when Rinoa saw what the Esper held it in its hand she felt nauseous. Quetzalcoatl's battered and broken form twitched in its hands. It spat sparks into the choppy waters as it was thrown aside. Rinoa realised what was about to happen and reached out to grasp at Shiva before the Guardian could leap in fury. The movement saved her life as Adrammelech and all its voltage ceased to hover and fell into the water.

Those unlucky enough to be still in the water thrashed madly, eyes popping in their sockets as the liquid was suffused with millions of amps. Men and women arched back almost until their backs broke as their bodies were overloaded and nerves smashed by the electricity. Rinoa looked away as she felt Squall's arm around her. If she could have dove into the lethal current to save them she would have.

As fast as it had begun the storm of water and light ended, and the churning waves inside the building were still with ruins and debris and now swaying bodies. The Espers stared up at the SeeDs as if to say: _Your move._

"Into the elevators," Squall said through clenched teeth. "Get us out of here." He stared down at the carnage as he felt the new gaze on him as the others left behind the battlefield and retreated up to the second level of the Garden. They had killed an Esper and broken the assault, but in return they had lost the first level of their home.

Eventually he, Rinoa, Quistis and Shiva were left staring down the two Espers as the third figure strode forth. It ignored the waves, Cuchulainn's power forming a muddy bridge she walked across without fear or hesitance.

Tisiphone stepped forward. She glanced to her side to see the floating corpse of Haramad, icy lance still embedded in its side. She spat and reached across, grabbing the weapon. Shiva narrowed her eyes and the woman in red felt the cold in the lance increase and weld itself to her palm. She ignored the pain and wrenched the weapon out of the dead Esper. It collapsed into itself, finally dissolved into nothing. _Such a waste_. She turned her gaze to Leonheart as she hefted the weapon. Lifting it over her head, she brought it down hard over her knee. It snapped cleanly in two and she threw it away, ignoring the tearing as it took a chunk of her hand with it. _Running low. Too run. But enough left to finish this. Finally finish all this. Revenge._ She sighed. _Now, what would my brother have said in this kind of situation? Ah yes…_

"I'm not going to offer any false promises of honouring surrender. I'm not going to ask for your lives in exchange for your Garden. I'm not going to ask for forgiveness from your…_Guardians…_ for what they did, or some grand speech about what we plan to do with the rest of humanity when your little flower-field finally wilts. I will only offer you this one truth:

"You will all die here."

Squall only said one word in return: "Shiva."

The Ice Queen stepped forward. "It will be my pleasure, Commander Leonheart."

Tisiphone kept her gaze on Squall as the man walked into the elevator. He didn't flinch or turn away and they only broke their eyes as the doors finally slid shut, leaving only Shiva on the lower level. The pure defiance and anger in his eyes excited her, and she made her decision.

_He is mine._

* * *

_Is this how you choose to make your amends, dear sister?_

She could hear his voice so clearly in her head. Alexander's personality had shone through his intimidating huge exterior like a sun through clouds. She wished he could be with her now as Tisiphone, the final representative of the Guardian's ancient genocide, stalked towards her.

And past her.

"Have fun, ice bitch."

Shiva didn't deign to reply. She stepped forward and the water froze as her feet touched it, and she approached the two Espers waiting for her. Cuchulainn licked obscene lips, and Adrammelech waited patiently.

_Is this what you want too, you old soldiers? One last grand assault against your species' killers?_ She imagined she could hear the reply:

_What else do we have?_

_So be it._

She charged. Ice solidified from her palms and thin trails of water froze as she slid across the waters towards her first target. Adrammelech raised a hand firing arcs of electricity and Shiva's blade me it, gritting her teeth against the energy that ran through her, and she swung as hard as she could. The Esper dodged through the air and she threw her other blade at it as she turned to see Cuchulainn bearing down on her, mouth wide and grinning. It would not have the pleasure.

The shape ran through the water and the Esper was slammed backwards by the tide as Leviathan's tail burst from beneath the submerged Garden. "We fight together now, Shiva!"

She smiled at her brother. "Always."

Leviathan turned quick as a snake to face Adrammelech as Shiva spun to face Cuchulainn. The electricity spat across the distance and harmlessly dissipated through the great water-serpent's body. For a second the Esper paused as if expecting the Guardian of Water to writhe in pain, or fall into the sea, or react at all. Finally it realised that against a being composed _of_ water, it was helpless.

Leviathan struck.

* * *

"Well, that went about as well as expected."

"Seems like you did okay too."

Squall and Seifer lay on the bench trying to catch their breath. Across from them light streamed in from a ragged hole where G-Garden's artillery had found its mark. SeeDs sat taking in a moment of peace from behind barricaded corridors or blast-doors as fresh squads took the place of the exhausted fighters from the lower-level.

Quistis and Siren walked up to the trio. "They came in through the walls. They're in here somewhere."

Rinoa frowned. "Kayes?"

Quistis nodded."And either Diablos or Melanthios." She shook her head. "To think we've got that arrogant, traitorous…_thing… _running around in Garden again. We need to find him. We don't know what kind of trouble he'll cause."

"Arrogant and traitorous? But Seifer's right here."

"Shut up Squall." Rinoa looked out of the widow. The sun was painting reds and oranges across the ocean sky. "One last night in Garden huh?"

Squall, Seifer and Quistis all reacted at the same time: _"_That won't happen."

Squall shook his head. "Well, this is-"

Everyone in the makeshift infirmary looked up as stone-dust cascaded from the ceiling. Squall and Seifer made eye contact for a second asking _what the hell_ when suddenly cries filled the room as Garden lurched treacherously.

"Nida!" Squall shouted into his lapel. He felt a hand pulling him. He turned to see Rinoa pointing outside into the sky open-mouthed. His gaze followed her finger.

The sky was burning.

* * *

Tendrils of fire reached out and caressed the Garden, holes and tears opening wherever they touched as steel bent and twisted in the heat. Gun crews on G-Garden cheered as wings of flame circled Balamb Garden unleashing hell down onto the building beneath, as everyone inside the besieged vessel felt the presence:

SeeDs staring out slack-jawed, those not caught in the fire and reduced to ash running for their lives back inside the shell of their home and away from any hole that led out onto the sky.

Shiva and Leviathan fighting on the central level winced and felt fear touch their hearts at the shape they could feel in the skies above. Something they would have hoped to never see again.

Melanthios stalking through Garden's interior gave an insane chuckle at the chaos unleashed in the skies.

Tisiphone standing before the elevator focussing all her remaining power into controlling the beast that flew above. Keeping it docile to her orders even as she felt in the distance a new influence encroaching on her own.

The remaining Espers singing the praises of their last and greatest brother, their leader and strongest fire.

The font of power.

The Zodiark.

* * *

_Oh dear Hyne and fuck._

"_TAKE COVER!"_ Squall screamed grabbing Rinoa and throwing himself aside. He heard Quistis cry out but couldn't look over as light scorched his eyeballs. He saw a SeeD too slow running to cover caught in a beam and simply vanishing into nothing.

"_What the fuck is that!"_ Seifer roared somewhere between anger and shock.

"_Why do you think I know?" _Squall replied, shouting to even be heard over the noise of tearing metal and falling masonry. He looked across at Quistis. The blonde was holding a hand over one eye and he could see blackened flesh from the corners of her hand. _We have to get out of here._ He caught Seifer and Siren's gaze and pointed desperately at the doorframe. They nodded, and together they grabbed everyone they could and ran for the door.

Squall panted for breath. "What…the _hell_?"

Seifer shrugged and looked down. "Hey, Quistis? Quisty?"

Quistis looked up, but didn't remove her hand. "I'm still…with you," she managed.

"What the fuck? What the _fuck! _What do we do against something like _that_?" Seifer snarled.

Squall looked from Rinoa to Quistis to Seifer. "I don't know." Suddenly he gasped and fell to the floor.

"_SQUALL!"_

Squall shook his head clear as he whispered: "It's Shiva."

* * *

"_DIE, DIE, DIE!"_

Shiva slashed again and again into the fat body of Cuchulainn. The Esper bellowed and swung, sending water that sizzled and hissed where it landed on her skin. She ignored the corruption and continued her attack as Leviathan dominated Adrammelech nearby. She no longer had thoughts of sorrow or sympathy for the grotesquery in front of her. She simply wanted win.

_I have friends depending on me. I have a lord waiting for me to return. AND I WILL LET NEITHER OF THEM DOWN!_

Cuchulainn roared at her and reared up, the water following him. Before he could command it Shiva struck, throwing everything she had into her fist. Power spread out from the impact and the giant screamed in pain as its very being solidified. Shiva cried out in triumph and was about to draw back for the final blow when the walls of the Garden ripped open and fire lashed out. She dodged sideways and the water where she had been standing boiled into vapour.

_So, time's up. Very well, let's finish this, monster._

She ran forward again, throwing herself under the fire the Zodiark rained down as the hull of Garden was torn to ribbons piece by piece. Cuchulainn's elation at the arrival of its brother was short-lived and it turned back to her, but far too slowly. Shiva kicked out, water freezing in the air, and before it could react she leapt up using the frozen surface of the sea and slammed a lance through its head.

It bellowed and tried to grab for her, but Shiva hung on and forced all the power she had through the lance. The Esper's scream turned shrill, and then stopped entirely as finally, mercifully, it froze solid.

She slid down its body and lay prone from exhaustion on the frozen lake as the air fogged up from the Zodiark's assault, water turning to steam where its beams touched. She could see Leviathan using his tail, tossing the ragdoll-form of Adrammelech from side to side into walls, its armoured body distending and finally breaking apart under the merciless attack. The reservoirs that powered the Espers must surely be running low by now. She tried to stand but she felt heavy, tied to the ground. _Sorry Squall._ She looked up through the Garden's broken walls into the sunset sky, to the Zodiark looking down. Looking down on her. Mouth open and fire within.

_So it goes._

And then Shiva felt nothing but light.

* * *

The dull roars echoed across the corridors of the upper levels.

"Have they started shelling again?" Squall asked quietly.

"Fuckers finally figured out how to reload a cannon," Seifer muttered darkly.

"No," Rinoa whispered softly. "Come and see."

Squall looked up and saw with horror that Rinoa was perched next to one of the holes punched through Garden's wall. "_Get away from there!_"

Rinoa turned and Squall saw there was a smile on her face. "No. Come and see."

Seifer and Squall shot each other a glance before climbing to their feet. They walked cautiously to the wall, ready to grab Rinoa and dive back behind cover. When they reached her they looked out and saw-

Seifer was the first to react. It started as a chuckle, then turned into a laugh, then before he could stop himself he was on the floor cackling hysterically.

The Zodiark tore through the sky, chased by a red shape. It dodged around madly as massive beams flew from the dragon-shaped attacker as on the horizon a massive squat form flew across the ocean towards them, suspended on rings of light.

The _Ragnarok _spat cannonfire and energy beams at the Zodiark as T-Garden's cannons smashed retribution at the Galbadian fortress. Ammunition caches popped and exploded where the shells found their mark, leaving a trail of fire and ruin across the enemy structure. Soldiers scattered and ran as landing craft were sunk on the waves and anything immobile was peppered with fire from the mounted positions on the new Garden's hull.

"_It's Selphie and the others!" _Rinoa cheered and hugged Squall, who stood dumbfounded and unable to react at the sudden reprieve, as night drew close and the sun began to set.

Esthar and Trabia had come at last.


	29. Nightfall V

The man looked across from the ashen-faced and dusty SeeDs to the building. Concrete chunks lay scattered across the floor where the outer hull had been penetrated and metal rebar twisted from heat and pressure poked through the floors.

"The hell kind of party did you throw while we were away?" Irvine asked, holding out a hand.

Squall shook it gratefully. "You missed most of the fun, where were you?"

Irvine shrugged as the two moved aside to admit the rest of the ship's passengers to the balcony. The aircraft shuddered as it continued firing outwards, supporting T-Garden's assault. "We got a little held up. Snowed in. You know how it is."

Squall felt a smile spread over his face. "It's damn good to see you guys again." Selphie and Rinoa were already hugging tearfully nearby. The sound of guns and the faint but chill-inducing _whoosh_ of the Zodiark's beams still sounded from outside. Squall could hear the sharp sound of metal glancing off metal from the lower-level as the Guardians fought an Esper. "I just wish we could give a better welcome than this. We're a little hard-pressed."

Irvine grinned. "Speaking of which. Got a present for you. Several in fact."

Almas, Li and Leonard dismounted and gave quick salutes. Li was the first to step forward. "Sir."

"Tell me you have something."

Li looked nervous and Squall saw her eyes shoot sideways at Almas, who stepped forward. "Something like that," the young woman said.

Squall looked Almas up and down. She seemed…different. They had parted as soldier and commander but the look in her eyes now was something else. _She's not a SeeD anymore._ "Well?"

Almas nodded. "Yes, sir, I have something."

"Can you tell me?"

For a moment Almas' unworldly air dropped and she was again the teenager he'd first met at the intake ceremony. _Has it really been so long?_ "It's not what you were hoping for, but it's good enough."

The sound of far-off gunfire could still be heard in the distance, and the pounding of the Garden's guns was ever-present. Squall felt his patience slip a notch. "Jordin, I don't think you quite understand the situation we're in here-"

"Squall!"

He glanced around at the interruption and felt his mouth drop open. _You're kidding me._ Squall watched open-mouthed as Laguna jumped from the ramp of the _Ragnarok_. "Mr President." He turned to Almas. "We'll deal with this later."

"Oh come on Squall I've asked you how many times now?" Laguna adjusted the machine-gun on his back. "I had to be here," he said.

Squall sighed. "Fine Mr- I mean _Laguna_." He looked at the ancient machine gun. "Does that antique even fire?"

The man looked hurt. "You could throw this baby into orbit and pick it up a year later and it'd work," Laguna said. He rubbed his eyes as if to clear sleep from them and sighed. "I've wanted to use it a few times before we even got here as a test, believe me."

"What do you mean-" Squall stopped as he saw movement and the two men looked back towards the airship. _Oh you've _got_ to be kidding me._

"Commander!" Odine announced grandly. Ward and Kiros stood behind the tiny doctor and gave almost-simultaneous shrugs. Ward had a huge trunk slung over his shoulder and it hit the deck with a loud crash. "Vhere do you vant us?"

Squall was jerked out of his disbelief as the engine-wash of the Ragnarok swept over them. He looked back at Irvine. "And Zell? Or did you leave him behind in Esthar?"

Irvine grinned. "Well, _that's_ two of our presents in one." He grabbed the wall for stability as the Garden rocked. "Talk later, fight now."

Squall motioned at the trio of young SeeDs. "You three stay here. Ask Nida or Quis- _shit._ Ask Nida for instructions."

The elevator ride was quiet. As they descended back to the second level the sound of battle increased until it was a crescendo of screams, clashing blades and gunfire on their ears. "_GO!"_ Squall and Irvine were low and running for the well-lit defensive position. No lights were on. The roof had simply collapsed into the central elevator well and now sunlight streamed in through the outer hull. Squall caught a bright flash as the Ragnarok screamed past pursuing the Zodiark. On the central bridge Shiva held court with a bizarre half-human half-equine Esper with massive scythes for arms that spit fire from where it's hands should have been.

"It's pretty bad then?" Irvine shouted over the sheer volume of noise.

"We lost the first level to the water!" Squall shouted back. "Leviathan's working on taking out approaching landers but-"

Irvine saw instantly and nodded. "Espers in the water. They're still getting through. They must have the entire damn _army _in here!" He tipped back his hat and levelled his rifle at the sky. "Well, let's even the odds." He fired.

Squall looked up as the flare roared out into the sky and burst. Seconds later a wall of red appeared as the Ragnarok hovered over the ragged tear. He turned to Irvine as the rear-bay door opened. "What the hell do you-" He looked back up as he caught the flash. A bright blue-and-black dart threw itself from the bay of the Ragnarok, angled straight down with incredible accuracy onto the clash between Shiva and the Esper. Squall took only a second to realise what it was.

_Zell you're insane._

They saw it coming. Shiva took one look up and dodged backwards as if shot out of a cannon, the floor freezing under her as she slid over to Squall and Irvine's position on the ramps. "What-?" she began.

The Esper was slower. It turned and swung a massive blade behind it and Squall cursed futilely as he saw Zell fall directly into its path, one foot outstretched in the biggest dive-kick the world had ever seen. He looked away as he saw the blade perfectly swing up to meet it.

And shatter.

If Shemhazai felt surprise or shock it was only for a moment as Zell kicked down and past the shards of the Esper's blade, the magikiller metal in his boot devouring and rending apart the Esper's hand, arm and finally face as he smashed through it like a hot knife through butter, to land with a resounding _crack_ onto the concrete floor. Time seemed to stop and the gunfire withered as the Galbadians crouched behind cover on the opposite side of the elevator shaft stood in shock as Zell emerged from the smoke and ruin of the dissolving Esper's body and raised his hands in triumph.

"_YEAH!"_

The cry was short-lived. As one man the Galbadians opened fire on the blonde fighter, and only a quick burst of speed stopped him from behind riddled with holes as he ran to their hidey-hole next to the elevator. "'Sup?"

"Nice work," Irvine said as Squall just stared at Zell, unable to find any words. He felt a shape crouch next to him and turned to see Laguna. "You did it," he said simply. "You turned that dumb chunk of metal into a weapon we can use. You have more of it."

Laguna grinned a crazy grin. "Not exactly. But we found out something just as good. Tell you later." He glanced over the parapet and begun to shoot. To Squall he looked far happier than he ever had behind an Esthar desk.

The sharp sounds of gunfire became more scattered as the Galbadians pulled back. Whether out of fear or confusion or ordered to do so Squall didn't know. SeeD sharpshooters took pot-shots but most put their weapons up, some residual unwillingness to kill overriding heir battle-lust, and maybe just the basic unwillingness to shoot running men in the back. Soon only silence and reigned in the second floor of Garden.

"They're gone," Zell said, not a little disappointed.

Laguna shook his head and clapped the youth on the shoulder. "Only to regroup. You'll get your chance son, don't worry." He turned back to the spot where the decaying Esper had been. "Although I think you got a pretty big tick-mark on the scoreboard already."

* * *

She raged. _Four down, four down, and only one day!_

She heard and felt her hands cracking in their death-rictus as she squeezed the life out of the unlucky SeeD and tossed him to the side where mercifully the man's neck broke instantly. She spun to face the nearest Galbadian soldier. "Why are you retreating?" she snarled.

The man looked back passively. He was a survivor of the lower-level battle and his soaked uniform was caked with blood where his comrades had died next to him, smashed and pierced by Guardian demons or burned beyond recognition by SeeD para-mages, or simply riddled with bullets from the sharpshooters from their fortified and elevated position. "The men need to rest and regroup."

"Your men need to annihilate the enemy," Tisiphone snarled back.

The man no longer cared for his fate. Taken from his nation and forced to fight for these _creatures_ against people he would probably have happily bought a drink for if circumstances had been different. "I won't order my men into a meat-grinder."

_You arrogant little ape. I'll break you for that._ Tisiphone found the control within herself to suppress her rage and find a smile. She looked up. Moonlight streamed in through the ruined hull that was now more holes than not. At least one man would still be fighting somewhere, she knew. Maybe two. "As you will." She spun back to face the luckless man. "But _you_ will lead tomorrow's assault."

"Ma'am." The man saluted and walked away.

Tisiphone waited until she knew no-one was looking, and collapsed to her knees. Her teeth ground together with the sheer effort of _control_. Keeping reign over the Zodiark was exhausting, especially now. She could feel the influence of the new one that had arrived on that damnnable ship and it was taking all the energy she could spare to keep the Espers under control and docile to her wishes. She could feel herself breaking up, piece by piece, as finally the reservoirs ran dry and her life began to slip away. _No. Not yet. Not before we wipe them out. I still have time!_

Leave the traitorous bitch to her brother. He would surely have felt her arrive, and he had his orders. From her. _That_ thought brought some pleasure at least. She'd marshal her last reserves and then take whatever pleasure she could from slaughtering the SeeD drones.

Even if the ruin of the world was beyond her grasp now she could still manage that.

* * *

"It's a beautiful night." Irvine looked up through the window and shrugged. Selphie sighed and took him by the shoulder. "Come on Irvy, don't be so glum."

He dropped the mask, safely away from everyone else. The room was more of a closet than a bedroom but it had been all that was available. Most of the remaining SeeDs hadn't even gotten that, packed together in whatever unexposed classrooms were still available. He shuddered. He had expected it to be bad but not _this._ He could still hear the thud of Trabia Garden's guns but they were intermittent now as crews rested by some mutual consent. The small sun of the Zodiark flew across the night sky, beams lancing down to catch the unwary moving shape spotted through Balamb's patchwork hull. A nightmare scene.

Selphie was still talking. "After Sir Laguna's plan works and this horrible war ends there'll be so much to do! We're gonna have to repair Garden of course. Yeesh but Squall made a mess of it while we were gone. We'll have to do something about Galbadia but I think Laguna can handle that on his own, he knows more about that kind of thing than us-

"Selphie…"

"-Have to have a celebration obviously. We probably can't do it here if the quad is underwater but _I_ think that Trabia's big enough for all us to fit in, and even then Levvy can do something about all the water-"

"Selpy, did we come back here just to die?"

He felt the slap before he'd finished the sentence.

"Don't you _dare_ give up now Irvine Kinneas!" Selphie shouted at him. "We've came this far together. We've lived through Deling City, missile attacks, base explosions, _the end of time_, and we're gonna live through this!"

Irvine rubbed his face and looked up at Selphie. "You're a lot tougher than me you know. Always were."

Selphie blushed a little but held his gaze. "Well one of us _should_ be," she shot back. She stood from the bed and walked over to the small window. Irvine looked up in panic and tried to pull her back but his fingers caught only air as she looked out into the night sky, moonlight streaming past her into the room. "We've got so much to do, there's no way we'll be stopped here."

"To the stars?" Irvine asked. Selphie looked around at him and he imagined he could still see them reflected in her eyes.

"_All_ the way to the stars."

* * *

"Ms- I mean Ins- I mean Headmaster." Leonard saluted nervously.

Quistis shook her head. "Leonard, for now at least we've passed the time for honourifics, don't you think?"

"If you say so Hea- Quistis."

They were in a small recovery room off from the main corridors. Li had almost exploded when he had tried to walk off to join the other soldiers before he got his stump looked at, and he had entered the small room to find a very overworked young medical staffer trying to care for SeeDs with everything from bullet wounds to spasms from some form of electrical exposure. In light of his own lack of pain or immediate expiry he had sat in a corner and tried to stay out of the way, where he had looked at the person sitting next to him and found it was the Headmaster. He'd saluted a greeting before realising in shock she couldn't see him from her bandaged left eye.

"Are…I mean, is it…"

Quistis sighed. "No," she said quietly. "It's gone." She touched the bandaging and winced.

Inwardly Leonard shrugged. His lack of or insistence on manners might not matter come dawn anyway. "What happened?"

"I looked up at the wrong time," Quistis had replied. She had idly stroked the hair of the blonde woman who lay asleep across her right shoulder. "That's all. Just bad luck."

It shook him more than he liked to admit. He had always been in awe of these people. Barely his age they had become members of the most elite fighting organisation in the world, killed monsters across every landmass on the planet, fought demons and unreal creatures if half the stories he had heard were true and had transcended time itself to _save the world. _Literally, save the world. If after all that these demigods – warriors and heroes he had looked up to since he had first picked up a pistol and stood next to Li as a bodyguard – could still be felled by something as horribly mundane as _bad luck_, what chance did he stand?

"You shouldn't think like that."

Leonard looked up to see Quistis staring at him. "Ma'am I-"

She smiled. "You're an open book Leonard, so don't bother lying about what you're thinking. When you're a soldier you don't think about the _what-if_s. You should know that by now." She gestured down at his own stump where Diablos had crippled him, what seemed like years ago in the Shumi village. "When you joined SeeD did you think that would be the result?"

"I…I always knew it could come to this, but-"

"You protected your friends and completed your mission. Do you regret it?"

He answered instantly. "Not for a second."

Quistis smiled beatifically at him. "My answer's the same. Squall's would be to." She looked down at Siren's sleeping form. "However this ends none of us will have regrets." She glanced past him. "Looks like you have a visitor."

Leonard turned to see Li's stern visage, Almas standing behind her and looking faintly puzzled. The warmth he felt at seeing her face was the opposite of the anger that was on her face. "Li, hey listen, I-"

The young woman grabbed his arm. She didn't miss a beat when she looked over at Quistis, except maybe a slight widening of her eyes. "Sorry for the interruption Headmistress. _You!_ Did you get seen to yet?" Leonard opened his mouth to reply and she talked over him anyway. "Of course you didn't. _Excuse me!_ Can you take a look at these-"

Quistis smiled as Li dragged Leonard off, the young man's face burning with embarrassment. She turned as Almas walked up to her. The look of puzzlement on the teen's face remained, like she trying to put a name to Quistis' face. Or listening to a voice no one else could hear. "Ms Jordin."

"Quistis Trepe." Suddenly Almas blinked and shook her head and once again she looked like a SeeD. "I'm sorry! I don't know what-"

"Don't worry about it Almas." She coughed and a shot of pain stabbed through her face. "Welcome back."

Relief coursed through Almas' body. "It's good to be back." She looked nervous and Quistis raised a hand to forestall her.

"Squall already got to you," she said. "He wanted to know what you found out. He grilled you mercilessly and you didn't tell him anything. _Either_ because you genuinely don't know-" there was no reaction from the SeeD "-_or_ because what you know now isn't what he wants to hear." _Ah. Bingo._ She sighed. "Don't blame him Almas. He wants this to end. He wants you to tell him you have a weapon that can sweep away the Espers and make it all alright again."

"That's not what I have."

Quistis smiled up at the woman. "Of course not. It's about control isn't it?"

Almas looked shocked. "How did you-"

Quistis smiled at the look on the poor girl's face. "Squall is a good man but he never was one for finesse." She sighed. "Siren and I found out a lot when went to Battleship Island. Worldshells are about _controlling_ power, not using it." She looked up at Almas. "You have a way to control the Espers, don't you?"

Almas hesitated for a second, looked around again to make sure Li's attention was firmly on Leonard, then looked back at Quistis and nodded. "But…it's hard. There are…others…stopping me."

"Tisiphone and Melanthios have to die," Quistis said shortly.

"Yes."

"And then what? Command the Esper's back into their cage?" Quistis and Almas looked around in surprise to see Siren's eyes open and looking directly into Almas'. "You don't want to do that."

"But…"

"It got us nowhere Almas. Nowhere at all," Siren said dreamily. "Only this mess we're in now. Just murder and death when they got out in the end." She snuggled up closer to Quistis. "Just…find a way," she said sleepily. "Don't make our mistake. Or it will be your children who suffer."

Quistis looked back to Almas. "I don't know if I agree," she said softly. "But do something Almas. If you want to help us end this ludicrous war."

Almas nodded and saluted. "Yes ma'am."

Quistis smiled at the eager young woman. "You're an interesting person Almas. I wish I'd gotten the chance to know you better. Both of you."

* * *

They looked out across the ocean from the uppermost balcony of the garden.

A red moon floated in the air, whipping around and through Galbadia Garden. The second, squatter shape that was Trabia Garden floated serenely nearby. Reflective dots in the ocean as landing craft ferried to and fro between the war-torn islands, wakes churning in the moonlight as the entire grim procession steadily moved east towards landfall. The three pairs of flight halos reflected from the ocean water and lit up the night. The Ragnarok hovered at sea-level as it was resupplied and recharged after its skirmish with the Zodiark. From up here men were invisible in the dark, and the entire tableaux looked like some unearthly machine mating ritual.

"It's a hell of a thing," Seifer said with relish. "And more to come tomorrow."

"God, you're bloodthirsty," Zell muttered, rubbing his hands to keep warm.

"What, you can't be tired already, after your magnificent entrance," Seifer said mockingly.

"Just warming up," Zell said. He frowned. "Hey wait a minute, aren't you gonna call me chicken-wuss?"

Seifer shrugged. "All gotta grow up some day."

Squall felt an arm hook under his own as Rinoa looped her arm through his. "You cold?"

Rinoa nodded. "Just…let me stay like this," she whispered.

Shiva cradled Carbuncle in her arms, the two Guardians looking out into the sea as Laguna, Kiros and Ward stood back away from the edge and watched the others. Quistis and Siren stood silently holding hands, Irvine and Selphie in a similar position nearby. All of them watched the ocean. Rinoa was the first to notice.

"Squall, look."

Squall looked out into the lights. "What, I don't-"

Seifer leaned against the railing and pointed. "There!"

The lights on Galbadia Garden were going out.

* * *

"_CARAWAAAAAAAY!"_

The doors buckled but held as Fury Caraway looked up into the grinding machinery of the Centra Shelter, and smiled. Idly he tossed away the key he had kept around his neck since taking office, where it tinkled down into the shadows.

Gears ground against each other and slowed as the cogs and wires and ancient technology of the dead race responded to its master's command:

_Stop_

The door's seam crumpled and a pair of jagged fingers prised their way into the metal, pushing apart with a grim screech to reveal Tisiphone's face furious and inhumanly cracked and broken, beyond any rational thought.

"My good woman," Caraway said with a smile.

"_YYYYOOOOUUUUUUU!"_

His hand came out from behind his back and he relished, delighted, indulged in the confusion followed by the glorious look of disbelief and horror on the monster's face before he threw the thin package of explosives and timer into the bowels of Galbadia Garden's flight systems.

Tisiphone closed the distance between them quicker than any human speed, hands reaching out for his throat and an insane snarl of rage on her face. Caraway reached for the pin on the device at his belt, the other half of the bomb. He has been so many things. Many of them bad. But he would not allow himself to die at the hands of something worse.

_Goodbye Rinoa._

"I will not be the father of death."

Light. And then nothing.

* * *

"Oh my God," Zell whispered, as Seifer punched the air in triumph.

Galbadia Garden was sinking. The massive halos were dimming as they watched and a dull noise could be heard even from the top of Balamb Garden as men grabbed onto whatever they could and vacated their base in a panic. Some of the launches headed for Trabia Garden, but most were going in another direction. Theirs.

"They have nowhere to go," Quistis said calmly, and caught Squall's eye. "They have to know the only way back to Galbadia is on one of the Gardens…"

"And we're the best target," Laguna finished. He looked at Squall. "It's your ship," he said calmly, before settling back to watch.

Squall turned. Everyone was looking at him. _So be it. _"We're _all_ in a battle for survival now. Most of the Galbadian Army is down there, and we're headed towards Esthar as fast as we can go. All they can do is hope to get control and turn us around before we get there." He took a deep breath. "If we can keep their army all here the rest of the world will be free to fight back."

"We'll make sure of it," Laguna said with a nod, already reaching for the communicator on his belt, their link to the outside world. "We'll get word to the outside world if I have to- if_ Kiros_ has to fly the Ragnarok out of here singe-handed."

Squall looked in the night air at his friends and family. "Win or lose, we can't let them take B-Garden."

Seifer chuckled grimly. "Sun's coming up."

"Then let's get to work."


	30. Iron and Steel

They looked down into the ruined Garden concord as the waves slopped over the railings. Shiva had finally released her icy hold on the waves and they had quickly reverted to liquid as Nida had lifted the Garden back out of the water. Faint red stains covered huge swathes of the ground where men had fallen and the ocean waters had swept them across the walkways like a ghastly paintbrush. Books, equipment and furniture littered the ground where they had swept in from the outer rooms of the academy. Concrete, shattered marble and metal stakes lay as makeshift cover where they had fallen from the walls and hull.

"It was a beautiful old place," Irvine said wistfully.

Squall clapped him on the shoulder. "It will be again."

The pair turned away and rode the elevator to the second level. The doors slid open and they walked the corridors in silence until they reached their destination.

"Commander," Quistis nodded as he entered. She turned to face the assembled SeeDs. There were only a few dozen left. Some had argued and fought against being sent away, waving weapons around in their good limbs and tears in their eyes as they shouted to remain with their home, but Squall had ordered them off in the remaining lifeboats. Even if Galbadia could take Garden from them all would find were empty berths.

Squall faced the assembled soldiers. They were crammed into the small room to hear _them_, he realised. To hear the legendary warriors speak. He shot a single glance at Quistis, who nodded back, blonde hair falling over her bandaged face. She in turn looked to her students. "I won't say much," she began from behind her desk. "I know this is not the SeeD you were promised when you joined us in Garden. This isn't the fight that we would have chosen if we had a choice. Some of you come from Galbadia," she acknowledged a couple of SeeDs who nodded slightly, "and we take no pleasure in the death of those simply unlucky enough to be born on the wrong continent. But what we stand for here today is more than a simple fight over borders. Whether we stand or fall here know that our actions will decide whether humanity can wake up tomorrow safe from inevitable terror, or waiting in chains for the guillotine to drop." She clicked a button and two hastily-taken camera screengrabs appeared on the board behind her. Some made involuntary hisses, others tightened grips on their weapons. Others just stared.

"These two people- No. These two _creatures_ must die for humanity to be free." She swept her gaze across the remnants of SeeD. "If there is one last thing we do before we fall, we will make it this." She sat. "Commander?"

Squall stepped forward. "We have our orders. I know you'll all follow them. We'll be right there with you. That's all." He began to sound off.

"Irvine, Pres- Laguna and the fire-teams will hold the Galbadians from taking any more territory inside B-Garden. Keep them to the landing craft and above all keep them away from the central spire. I'll explain why later." He gestured behind himself to where Laguna sat nodding and then back to the nervous-looking riflemen. "Don't take any stupid risks. Just keep them occupied."

"Lady Shiva, Zell, Selphie, SeeD Almasy (some grumbles at that, but not so many now) and the para-mages will sweep the outer spokes for any flanking moves or guerrilla teams." The remaining mages nodded almost as one. "Cover the corridors if you have to. _No-one_ gets through to the elevator shaft."

"Quistis, Rinoa, Siren and SeeDs Nerva, Nuo and Jordin along with any injured personnel are on guard-duty in the Basement and Shelter levels with the scientific team." He winced as he remembered the almost-screaming argument he had with Rinoa over that. Only his own solid wall of insistence and Quistis' involvement had made her agree in the end. "Keep the Shelter machinery safe."

He looked up at his comrades. "We make landfall in just less than two hours. Esthar's army will be there to greet us with every gun they have. Let's make sure we get there." He swept his hand over the men and women. "Dismissed." He waited until the room was emptied of his subordinates, and only his friends remained. He turned to them. "Well, this is it. Good luck everyone,"

"Not gonna need it," said Seifer with a grin.

"Speak for yourself, I'm gonna take every advantage I can get," Irvine muttered.

"We'll look back at this and laugh one day," Selphie said.

Squall nodded. "Then let's go."

The room was finally empty except for Squall and Rinoa. She was sat behind Squall's old desk. It seemed like an eternity ago he had last been in this office. He sat down next to her and her hand found his. "So this is it huh? Once more facing the end of the world with a smile." She gave a small laugh. "It reminds me of the castle, and the flower-field."

Squall gripped her hand firmer. "We won that time, and we'll win again."

Rinoa looked over at him and leaned forward. "I know we will." She kissed him, and in the quiet they found one small moment of peace before _she_ was the first to draw back. "Later," she whispered. "First, we win."

* * *

When it came the assault was merciless. Guns opened up on both sides as grim-faced soldiers ran for the remaining cover and hunkered down. Laguna directed fire from the upper-levels as battle was joined.

Men fell quickly and painlessly as Irvine's bullets found their mark expertly. The stoic cowboy hardly blinked as he reloaded and fired with mechanical precision, every _bang-ca-chink_ of a fired and reloaded round marking the death of a Galbadian who had chosen his cover unwisely or hadn't ran fast enough. He spared a single glance across the upper-level to see Laguna raining down fire, covering for the remaining riflemen to choose their own targets. Scattered fire came up at them, increasing in intensity as the landing craft that had made it from the sunken and cannibalised G-Garden landed and either found or made new entryways into Balamb.

A dark shape whizzed through the surf in the turbulent ocean and an officer focussed on finding a landing-point had only a moment's glimpse of a long shape beneath his vessel when suddenly the waves rose up and his men were plunged mercilessly into the sea. Leviathan swept under the makeshift armada, rising up to capsize the struggling fleet. His coils found their mark as some were heaved into the air and thrown into the sea, their luckless crews struggling to unlatch armour as they sank into the cold ocean. Most were given a reprieve as the great serpent was pursued relentlessly by a hostile and jagged shape. Mateus and Leviathan clashed under the waves, their impacts only registering above as a slight swell of the waves and bubbles on the surface. The Esper was better-armed and -armoured but the Guardian had better mobility, and the two found themselves evenly matched as Leviathan fought to disable as many boats as he could while avoiding the savage barbs of Mateus' trident.

"God, I hope he's okay," Irvine whispered as he gestured for a magazine. He turned to the SeeD next to him as he was handed less. "That's it?" he shouted.

The man shrugged before he turned back to his own targets. "It's all we have!"

The rake of machine-gun fire and sharp cracks of grenades still sounded from across the concord in Laguna's sector. _Did he bring his own?_ Irvine saw a glint of steel and turned back to see two Galbadians setting up something long and thin. "_Mortar team!"_ was all he needed to shout, and immediately gunfire peppered the machine and crew. He looked down his scope and felt his stomach sink as every third landing craft brought across not men but wicked-looking machinery. "They're bringing across artillery guns from the G-Garden!" he whispered in disbelief. He heard the sound of skidding boots and turned to see Laguna sink next to him.

"I saw. Time to go," The Estharian politician-turned-soldier said.

"But-"Irvine began.

Laguna shook his head insistently. "It'll be suicide to stay up here if they get even one of those things set up." He gestured towards the elevator. "Are Odine and the others down there?"

Irvine nodded and tried to recall. "They went down pretty much when they got here."

Laguna looked thoughtful for a second. "Blow the concord," he said simply.

"But-" Irvine began again.

"No buts!" Laguna shouted. "Everyone's down there that needs to be! There's no point dying here for nothing. Trade space for time. We win if we have _time_!"

Irvine seethed with fury as he realised the older man was right. "Shit!_ Shit!_ Okay!" He gestured wildly at the gunnery-teams under his command. The orders took several repetitions before they grasped his meaning. "Laguna, what the hell are you and Odine planning on doing down there?" he asked as grenades were propped up and explosives set.

Laguna's eyes twinkled. "Our best shot," he replied.

The SeeDs retreated and the Galbadians gave a roar of triumph as they charged unmolested to the central ring. The first man to get there was the unluckiest as several pounds of explosives and grenades went off, and the elevator's walkway collapsed into itself. The SeeDs had trapped and separated themselves, but any new assault would now have to be made uphill.

* * *

"It is about ze _power,"_ Odine muttered as he gestured like a symphony conductor. Press-ganged SeeDs ran around following his directions, giving him a wide berth. The reason for the wide berth they gave him, and another comparison to a musical conductor, was because he was holding the _Shai'en_ and waving it around like a baton.

"For Hyne's sake doctor," Quistis muttered as she tried to catch his waving limb, but her depth-perception was gone and she merely managed a couple of swipes at the air near his hand before shrugging in frustration and motioning for people to walk around him. She turned and went towards the encampment. "Li?"

Dust cascaded from the ceiling and tinkled from the metal pipeworks of the Garden's basement levels. They had barricaded themselves down near the heart of the Centra Shelter. Anyone coming down from above would have to deal with at least two ring's-worth of defence before reaching the central generator-spire, where they would find one final defence waiting for them. Even injured SeeDs could still reload another's gun, or fire from a sitting position. Or just act as one more warm body between the enemy and their objective.

Almas tossed her gunblade from one hand to another distractedly. "Hurry up, hurry up," she whispered almost to herself. She could _feel _the Espers around her, vague shapes in the air. She knew that if only, if only two blocks could be removed from the equation she could reach them.

One might be enough.

"You'll have your chance Almas," Quistis said to try to calm the girl down.

"You can make your new magical fairy-friends later," Leonard taunted, eyes still scanning for any unwelcome motion in the metal corridors beyond, one hand permanently glued to his pistol-butt.

"I should be up there," Rinoa said quietly, biting her nails. _I should be with him_.

"Later Rin," Quistis said gently. _Keep her safe_ was all Squall had asked of Quistis, and she intended to do so. For all her experience and what training her few years in SeeD had given her, Rinoa was at heart not the soldier she sometimes thought she was. _She shouldn't be here at all_, Quistis thought.

"Ah-ha!"

Quistis and Rinoa turned at the sound of Odine's gleeful shout. "Doctor? Have you finished?"

"No! But! I know where ze problem waz!"

The sigh went across the room. Everybody who hadn't previously had the pleasure of Odine's mannerisms was getting a crash course. At least he wasn't constantly insulting Siren anymore.

"Get it working doctor, please," Rinoa said.

"Hah! Ze machinery will work missy! I assure you!" came the muffled reply from within an opened control panel. It made Quistis nervous to watch.

Leonard felt warmth on his arm and allowed himself to relax slightly to turn and look at Li as she touched him.

"Just don't do anything stupid," the teen muttered. "I'm going to need you after this is all over."

"Count on it," he replied.

Almas snickered. "Looks like she's got you on the leash there pal."

"Hey, I'm used to being dominated by women," Leonard replied with a grin. "If-"

His comment was cut off as an animal roar sounded through the chamber. He looked up scanning for targets but found nothing, and it took him a moment to realise it wasn't an Esper bearing down on them from above, but the tortured sound of tearing steel, coming from in front of him.

"Doctor," Li asked with an icy calm, "could I have my sword back please?

Odine spluttered. "Missy I have not finished with zher alterations to ze-"

"_Right now Doctor Odine,"_ Li hissed.

He slid it along the ground instantly.

"Trouble?" Quistis asked, one hand on her weapon, ready to whip out and maul any attacker stupid enough to get close.

Li didn't reply. She didn't need to.

The wall buckled. Metal cried and thrashed against itself above and around them as Diablos picked his way down and across the metal walls towards the ground. Leonard sighted down his gunbarrel but Li's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Don't waste your bullets," she said with naked fury in her voice, as ahead of them a shadow darted from corner to corner. "_OUT! COME OUT YOU COWARD!"_ she screamed into the metal jungle. The sound of slow clapping answered her from behind the cavalcade of tearing metal as a familiar form stepped out of the dust.

"We need to stop meeting like this Ms Nuo. Down alone in the dark places of these little schools," Duo Kayes said jovially, his voice bouncing from surface to surface as he hid somewhere in the room.

"Watch him. Watch the little shit when you think you have him," Li whispered urgently as Almas' head whipped around trying to find a target.

Diablos alighted on the ground, wings folded behind, muscles outlined in red and black carapace as gleaming eyes stared across the flat metal floor towards them. There was almost no cover between the Guardian and the SeeDs, a fact that gave no-one any comfort. _"Throw down your weapons and die quickly,"_ he hissed. The pipes around him compressed to thin slivers and Leonard winced in sympathetic responce. _"Resist and there will be no mercy."_

"I always knew you were a vicious man Kayes," Quistis shouted into the darkness, "but I never realised just how bad." Reacting to some unseen signal she dodged sideways quickly, her hand moving in a complex motion, and suddenly her whip was in front of her and the bullet aimed at her head _ping_ed away harmlessly into the dark. "Come down and fight Duo," she said. "Come and help your little black cockroach."

Li was surprised at the sheer venom her voice contained. The few times she had directly interacted with Quistis Trepe the woman had never been anything more than supportive, if a little cold.

"_You'll die for that Trepe. Not that you were going to live anyway, but I'll take a little more pleasure than I was ordered to, at least."_

The reply came instantly. "Try."

The roar of anger came only a second later as he did so.

* * *

The Galbadian soldier turned the corner quickly, rifle moving sideways from corner to corner. Unfortunately there was only one of him.

The small yet heavy rod impacted between his eyes hard enough to dent his metal headdress and send him gurgling to the floor. His backup went the same way as Selphie's solid-steel nunchucks slammed into his forehead the same time the ground underneath him turned slippery and he tripped over his own feet. It ended as fast as it had begun.

Selphie wiped sweat from her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeesh, how many of them are there?"

"Less," Seifer said shortly.

Selphie yelped in shock and almost jumped back into Shiva. "Ah! Don't do that to me!"

"Quiet, both of you," Shiva said, looking up at the ceiling.

They both looked around questioningly at her. They were both dog-tired from clearing out the rooms, constantly on alert for any Galbadian soldiers that had managed to get away from the slaughter of the central concord and slip into the facilities.

Zell barrelled around the corridor, barely missing a face full of steel from both Selphie and Seifer, and came to a stop breathlessly. When he looked up it was with triumph. "One more…to that scorecard…" he gasped through breaths. He had found the Esper tunnelling into the walls of the Garden. Unluckily for it, Zell had been on the other side of the wall. It had been a one-sided fight. Zell was almost disappointed, the Esper had barely put up a fight, had seemed more interested in getting to some other place, and not just away from the young martial artist. Well, no loss. "Yo, Shiva, what's up?"

Shiva looked down at him. "Something's happening. Down below. I can feel it." She shook her head. "A score I wish I could help settle."

* * *

Magic clashed as Quistis and Siren met Diablos in the middle ground between the walls and the central pillar. The whip lashed out and bounced against Diablos' steel-hard carapace as laser-sharp light spun towards the black-coated Guardian as Siren unloaded whatever power she had left at her 'brother'.

"_Useless!" _ Diablos exulted as he roared forward with a single wing-flap, gravitic wake churning the metal floor like water as Quistis threw away her beloved weapon and resorted to a more useful form of assault. Fire and light flew from her fingers as she threw herself and landed rolling, barely dodging the warped space that appeared where her head had been. If Diablos had been smarter the fight could have ended right there, but luckily for everyone Diablos had exchanged intelligence and tactics for excess cruelty and cunning.

Light bent around him as he turned, and for a second _he_ was the one who had to move as Li's blade swooped past his head.

"I have an unpaid debt with you, monster," Li hissed as their faces came close. Diablos reached out a hand and claws swiped past Li's face, drawing a fine mist of blood but only superficially, and Li's feet were already planted for another swing as Rinoa took careful aim and finally unleashed her power.

"_Fuck!"_ Space bent and Diablos was gone into the steel rafters of the basement levels as the beam of sorcerous power annihilated space on its passage through where he had been standing, distortions raining down on the group below as Quistis shouted for those not necessary to evacuate back to the upper levels. Li panted to regain her breath and reign in her anger and she had almost turned to chase the demon into the network of pipes and machinery above when she felt a hand grab her and pull her back as bullets whizzed past her head.

"_Cover!_" Quistis shouted as Kayes' rifle tried to find a mark.

"Iz zher a problem?" Odine shouted, obscenely cheerful and seemingly ignorant of the lightning-fast battle that had taken place.

"Just get to work!" Leonard shouted back as he tried to find Kayes in the maze of pipes and metal. From above it looked like some insane dance as the SeeDs moved to avoid the air warping around them, disturbed by the passage of bullets and Diablos' gravitic assault that could crush bones like they were nothing. His missing arm ached.

"Ze work iz finished, _Mr_ Nerva! Just ze final tuning! Do you wish for ze machine to be activated now or la-"

"_LATER!"_ Quistis screamed, turning away from Kayes' scattershot defence to point at the diminutive man. "Not a second before I give the order!" she shouted.

Odine nodded as he looked out at the conflict. What did he care for the grudges of less-enlightened people? "Az you will!"

"What are you planning down there?" Kayes voice came from everywhere and nowhere. _So fucking typical_ Almas thought in frustration, the 'gun' portion of her gunblade being useless as a ranged weapon. She tried again to focus on the swimming shapes of the Espers inside her mind, but they drew darker. "They're here," she breathed.

Quistis looked around at Almas as she spoke. "Who-" She realised, too late.

The door buckled. Not the physical stress of Diablos' crushing gravity, but something other. Shadows descended from the walls and flowed towards and past the ancient steel and suddenly a hand was reaching _through_ the door as Melanthios crushed it with eldritch power.

The man in black stared across at the girl in white. No sign of sanity or cunning remained in his eyes. Only anger. "YyyyOOooouUUUUUu…"

Quistis took a step back and was about to open her mouth to speak a warning when too late she realised that Almas was on her blind side, and the first she saw of the young SeeD was her charging out of reach towards the evil worldshell. She tried anyway. "_Almas no!"_

Shadows gathered around the girl and it was all Li or Leonard could do to cover their eyes and look away, and when the view finally cleared all that remained was a ruined doorway, no sign of the man in black or of Almas Jordin, and only the triumphant cackling of Diablos left in the air as he touched down once more.

"_Come, SeeDs. Let's finish this pathetic game."_

Leonard reached behind him and withdrew the shotgun slung over his back. Pumping it one handed he felt Li standing next to him and Quistis Trepe near him.

"Bring it on."

Diablos roared, an inhuman screech to the heavens. Light bounced around the room as the air itself twisted. Shadows bounced around the walls as sources of illumination shifted like a river changing course, and suddenly Leonard's heart stopped as one lamp found itself flung sideways and lighting up a dull collection of pipes across the room, and suddenly Duo Kayes' dusty grey-and-brown coat was no camouflage at all. The man's head turned in shock as he found himself looking directly into Leonard's eyes through the teenagers' sight, and his jump was too slow as the bullet slammed into him squarely in the chest.

To Li's ears the scream was magical.

Diablos didn't even look around at his one-time partner as Kayes gasped for air and scrabbled for cover. Later on Leonard would have swore he saw a smile on the Guardian's twisted mouth. He tracked the wounded traitor as he crawled across the floor to reach the escape and shot Kayes expertly in the leg. It didn't stop the man though. Leonard cursed and fired again but the trigger fell only on an empty chamber and Kayes had vanished back into the Garden by the time he had reloaded.

"_Stupid little rat finally ran out of luck eh?"_ Diablos hissed in grim humour, as he stepped aside and gestured.

Li and Leonard spared one glance between each other, then looked warily at Diablos, and finally at Quistis, who nodded. "Find Almas. She needs you." Her whip slipped through the air lightning fast forming a barrier of whispering steel between herself and Diablos.

"_You brats are immaterial. I have bigger fish to fry."_

They glance back at Quistis, who nodded. "Go." The blonde turned to Rinoa. "You too. Get to Squall, help the wounded above." She stepped sideways, closer to Siren. "We can handle this one."

Li only paused for a half-second as she passed by the leering Diablos: "Survive, monster," she whispered. "You owe us an arm."

Rinoa looked into Quistis' eyes and then Siren's, and nodded. "Win." With a grunt of effort she hauled Odine to his feet and dragged him out of the room as the tiny Estharian scientist complained loudly. Diablos didn't even deign to turn his head.

Quistis and Siren stood apart as the black demon moved back between the door and themselves. Diablos' muscles rippled in anticipation.

"_The way it must be."_

"We should have left you in that lamp," Quistis replied.

* * *

Almas was lost in the darkness. Corridors had melted away into nothing as the shadows had fallen on and around her, and all light was sucked up into whatever place Melanthios commanded and she had felt herself picked up and slammed down somewhere else.

"_YOU WERE MY GREATEST PLAN!"_

_Slow it down. Remember your training. Stay calm or you'll die in this place._ She felt footsteps and spun. She heard the whisper of a clawed hand as it swung by her in the darkness.

_You can do this. He's weak. Angry. Stupid. Make him angrier. Stupider. _"Your _dumbest_ plan!" she shouted into the darkness.

"_You were supposed to be one of us!"_ the man screamed from the darkness. "You were supposed to be the viper in their nest!"

Another swipe she easily danced away from. It was better if she shut her eyes. Without the cavernous darkness encroaching on her sight all she had to do was remember how Garden had looked, and now her memory was perfect as she saw the corridors in her mind. All she needed was a familiar object to touch and she'd know where she was, and where she needed to go. If he would give her the time.

"I'm nothing like you!" she yelled back as she felt along the walls. "You're nothing like _me!_ Just an angry ghost with too much shit in his brain _to see he belonged dead!"_ Finally as if providence and luck itself had guided it her hands touched cold metal and she felt its shape.

_This is…the _top floor_? How'd we get here so fast?_ Taking a deep breath and ignoring the ranting of the man in black she began to walk through the halls blind to where she knew she had to go.

_They_ were waiting for her.

The skin on the back of her neck prickled as her senses tried to scream _he's right behind you_ at her but she ignored them as she walked on. Even half-crazed with anger he remained the consummate showman. He would want it to end somewhere…symbolic.

Finally she opened a door and felt wind on her face. She dropped to one knee and felt the ground as Melanthios taunted her somewhere both above and in front of her and her hands felt pitted metal. The roof. _Of course._

"Open your eyes miss Jordin. Let's end this little aside."

She did so.

Gods flew above her.

* * *

He walked through the ruined corridors of Balamb Garden, eyes darting left and right. A Galbadian solider burst out of a doorway ahead of him and Squall saw past the man to the breach in the wall where he had come from, and in a second he had spun and kicked out and the man was thrown backwards, already raising his hands over his head as Squall's blade came up.

_What's the point?_

"Drop it," Squall hissed. Miraculously the man did so, and Squall lowered the Lionheart. "Now get out." He watched the man retreat to his flyer. No other soldiers had come through the gap. Galbadia was getting desperate.

The hair on the back of his neck tingled and he dropped and rolled as bullets whizzed past him into the wall with a whistling noise that meant they had been way too close. He looked as he fell and saw a blue of jet-black body armour as he fell, and a flash of red-

"_LEONHAAAAAART"_

Squall stayed where he was, his heart pounding as Tisiphone glared a killing aura down the corridor towards him.

"Come out, you coward! Come out and face me!"

Squall weighed his options. Sit like a rat in the room and wait for the guns to poke around the corridor, run out into a killing fire, or try and make an escape through the wall the Galbadian deserter had fled through. His options were cut short when a new voice sounded through the doorframe:

"_I_ have someone for you to face."

_Oh god damnit._

Tisiphone sneered as Seifer walked into view through the smoke. Her guards raised their guns but she waved a hand and just as fast they dropped them back to look at the floor. "The fake tiger I presume?"

The old Seifer would have charged in rage at the insult. The new one stood his ground. "The washed-up monster, I presume? You look like a cracked china-doll."

For one moment the only sound that could be heard besides the distant gunfire was the low animal noise of Tisiphone grinding her teeth together. "You'll pay for that."

Seifer lifted his gunblade to point at the ceiling and made his gesture: _Come and make me._

Tisiphone dropped low and Seifer's first volley went over her head as she pushed off with a force that left dents in the ground below her. Squall made his decision. _Now or never._

One shocked glimpse was all Squall needed to see that Tisiphone had totally forgotten about his presence hiding in the room, but she was mid-leap and unable to change direction as the Lionheart came down hard on her back. Her momentum almost dragged the gunblade out of his hands as she barrelled towards Seifer, one hand dropping to the ground to stop and turn against the new threat.

_Your loss._

Squall stepped out to see Seifer sliding aside and slashing upwards as Tisiphone passed close enough for her fist to graze skin as she passed. "Squall! Going to be useful and watch me take down this bitch?"

Squall rushed up to stand by him, only looking backwards once to see the Galbadian soldiers keeping their distance. They clearly had experience with their master's…indiscriminate…combat style. "Figured you could use some _help_," he said.

"Well obviously you need _some_ glory or people will stop licking your boots-"

"_SHUT UP! SHUT UP AND FIGHT ME!"_ Tisiphone screeched in rage. The reply comes at once, from both soldiers:

Squall only took one moment to reach down to his communicator and tap out a coded message before he and Seifer replied as one:

"Gladly."

* * *

The Espers watched. Melanthios sneered in triumph from behind his shadows as the sinuous shape of Mateus rose up in the air beside her as Leviathan stared upwards in disbelief. Other shapes joined it, and watched. Just watched.

A winged wraith with the blindfolded shape of a woman attached to one wing, her hand embracing the grimacing skull of its head.

A kindly-old man seated on a chunk of rock, hands outstretched to a pair of ornate scales on which rested two crystals that vibrated in the midday light.

A black inhuman shape that reminded her of Diablos, one hand ending in a massive claw and lower abdomen like a bee, pulsing with unearthly light.

And above them all the final shape hovered. Shed of its deadly wings of light the Zodiark looked down on its brothers, its black commander, and the other one; the tiny human shape who seemed so familiar to it somehow. To Almas the ultimate Esper looked horribly small and fragile, a tiny serpent balanced inside its ornate spiked halo.

"So it ends here."

"For one of us, yeah."

Melanthios shook his head. "We could have done great things together. I was planning on being a ruler, not a destroyer."

Almas spat. "You'd have done a shitty job."

Melanthios smile turned into a sneer. "I'll settle for seeing you burned to ashes and the Garden with it. Just like Xu and Caraway and all the other arrogant apes who- what's so funny?

She smiled. The smile turned into a grin, and finally she burst out laughing.

"What? _What!_" Melanthios shouted in rage as the tiny girl just stood there and laughed at him.

"God you're dumber than you think. You've not been paying attention."

Melanthios looked out across the ocean, past Almas' laughing form, and for a moment his eyes failed to take in the view. Finally he realised what he was seeing. The shadows slid away from him in sheer shock and only a man stood there on the roof as the ocean ended and Esthar's coastline stared back at him, the glinting metal of Esthar's army poised there waiting.

Out of time.

"Let's go you little shit!" Almas screamed in challenge and reached within herself for her legacy, funnelling it all into the one Esper she knew could beat them all, and the Zodiark rose and responded to her wish and bore down on Melanthios.

* * *

They were exhausted. The air itself was encroaching on them as the Guardian's power pulsed through the room, making their limbs heavy. Siren's beampoints of light refracted to shine harmlessly on his carapace. Quistis had abandoned her whip and threw para-magic as hard as she could at the traitorous Guardian. The communicator at her hip beeped a tiny warning and she stared down at it, and saw the message it delivered.

"This is it, time to go" Quistis whispered almost to herself over the noise of tearing metal as the wail of the injured carried down from the floors above like an unholy chorus of pain. The bandage lay across her shoulder and Siren could see the ruined flesh underneath."

"What…what are you talking about?"

Quistis gathered her strength for one more assault, reaching down into her dwindling energy, and a jet of fire burst into being in front of her and arrowed out like a flamethrower. Diablos spun, wings retracting as her magical fire reached for him and battered against him. Ragged tears and burns covered the once-smooth leathery surfaces now. They had been fighting for what seemed like hours, and all machinery breaks down eventually. All three of them were running on empty.

"What's happening!" Siren shouted. Quistis grabbed her and without warning locked lips against hers. For one second Siren just stared in shock and then she was looking into Quistis' eye, and the look in it terrified her.

"This is what Odine was building," Quistis breathed, "how he managed to get around how little anti-magic material we had. It's the _engine_, love. Li found out in Trabia but Odine figured out how to use it! The Garden's Centran engines act like electricity around a magnet."

"What, what does it do!" Siren shouted in confusion.

"_Amplification." _Quistis heard the dull hiss of Diablos' anger as the fire died out and she talked faster. "Siren we're going to destroy the Espers using an anti-magic field that'll suck all the magic out of Garden."

"But…but." Then Siren realised the full implications of the plan. "_NO!" _Her own shout of disbelief came at the same time as Diablos' roar of rage as his wings unfurled again and he faced the pair with murder in his eyes. His body was streaked with blood and gouges where Li's blows had found their mark but to Siren's eyes he still looked terrifyingly strong.

"You have to go," Quistis said as she looked quickly from the recovering demon to Siren. "You, Shiva, the others, you can't be here when it powers up!"

"I won't leave you here!" Siren shouted in defiance.

In response Quistis only reached back to the central pillar and pushed a single button. The replying beep sounded out like an echoing metronome through the central chamber. Time counting down. "Go."

Then the earth spun.

Siren's reply was lost as the earthquake ripped through Garden. She caught the look of shock on Quistis' face as the floor rocked underneath her and the blonde SeeD almost toppled backwards, one hand reaching out that Siren grabbed as she tried to steady them both. She opened her mouth, ready to shout another refusal into Quistis' face as the two fell together across the room as suddenly the floor became a sheer slope.

But something's wrong. She looks down. The hand touching her is blackened and covered in blood and Siren's about to ask _what happened was your hand burned as well _when she realises the hand that grips her is clawed and cold and not flesh at all.

"Oh," is all that Quistis says softly, staring into her eyes as Diablos roars in triumph from behind the pair, his hand on Siren's chest as it goes through Quistis' body where her heart is.

Used to be.


	31. The Beast that Bled the World

The fist of god smashed into Balamb Garden. Everything not fixed down was flung from the walls and floors as the flight halos reached the Esthar western shallows and ground themselves against it. The garden creaked and shuddered and bent as ancient Centra technology fought against the natural world and began to lose.

Nida cursed and fought desperately for control as the cliff-face reached out towards the Shelter with gruesome inevitability. Gears and machinery screamed with abuse as the Garden lifted at an angle so sharp it seemed almost vertical. Nida stole one glance through the windows and where he should have seen ocean he saw only sky, until finally and with a massive jolt the lowest halo scraped and crawled over the edge, and B-Garden hung over the great Esthar salt plains like a seashell in mid-throw.

Galbadians and Trabians watched from the ocean in awe as for impossible seconds Balamb Garden hung pointed at the sky. Then gravity reached out and claimed back the building, and the nose began to drop towards the ground with deceptive yet unstoppable slowness.

"_HANG ON TO SOMETHING!"_ Nida screamed into the garden-wide intercom, before with a bone-crunching impact Garden landed. The thousands of tons of the massive building fell onto the flight halos, which took the full impossible force of the landing and smashed into dust with the sound of the world's biggest crystal being rung.

* * *

Duo Kayes was thrown against the wall, head smashing against the corridor wall hard enough to make him see stars.

_Fuck! Fucking bastard! Fucking Dollet bastard and his fucking noblewoman whore!_

He hissed with the pain and the sheer effort of pulling himself along as he approached the sound of gunfire. He tired to steady his rifle ahead but only managed to send another jolt of pain through his gut. Footsteps made him pause and lie on the ground. If playing dead would get him through this then so be it.

Galbadian uniforms rounded the corner and he sighed in relief as he lifted himself up. "Hey…" he croaked out.

The lead soldier glanced around quickly and saw him laying there. Kayes reached out a hand for help, but the man's hand wasn't extending towards _him_ but to his comrade, who handed him a pistol. Too late Kayes realised he wasn't wearing a Galbadian uniform. He raised a hand weakly to protest as _it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair_ ran through his head.

It was the second-to-last thing to run through his head.

* * *

"You're just a wreck," Squall whispered as he readied the Lionheart. If his anger and fury could have reached out and taken form it would have struck her dead. Here was the one who had driven two countries to war, killed his friends and allies, _INVADED HIS HOME. _"Just another lost shell of a monster."

Tisiphone stalked forward, an insane grin plastered on her face. She put a foot down and it splintered up and along her thigh and suddenly she was on her knees looking up at him. No pain seemed to register on her face as she stood and faced him. "Come, apes," she hissed like a crazy lover, "come and taste vengeance for my people."

All three moved together and Squall blocked the first blow with the Lionheart as the fist slammed into the side of the blade. He allowed the momentum to swing it around and he twisted on his feet to bring the blade biting into her head as the other man struck forward. She raised her other hand and it bit her palm instead as her free hand grabbed Seifer's blade. She closed her hand and Squall felt a moment's panic as he heard a sound like crackling glass, and he wrenched the blade directly away and free, the sharp edge slicing through her hand as he hopped back and ended up out of her reach, Seifer on the other side of the woman. They faced off again, more wary.

Round one. No result.

"Was it worth it in the end, to die here?" Squall baited. "A used-up desperate army and whatever monsters you have left to kill a bunch of children." _You'll pay for all of it! ALL OF IT!_

She seemed to hear his true thoughts. "Don't talk to me about vengeance," she hissed back, stepping forward and sideways. With a snake-fast movement she ducked low under his swing, fist moving in a massive uppercut, and it came _this close_ as he stepped back and felt his jacket tear as her fingers chewed through the material barely missing clawing his face off. The Lionheart swung down in return while she tried to draw back and smashed through her leg. He stopped the follow-through and brought it back up to carve a huge chunk of flesh out of her leg. It hit the ground and dissolved into nothing but the woman somehow remained standing as Seifer's attack came at her from the other direction and almost took her head off.

Squall stepped forward to strike the killing blow, but too late as Tisiphone straightened-up and saw him coming. He tried to dodge back but he was already committed to the swing as her hands swung upwards to grab the blade again. Squall screamed with effort and slammed his foot into her face, using all his strength to prise free the blade. He shouted in triumph as it came but it was short-lived, the gunblade cracking in his hands, and he twisted it fully out of her grasp before it could shatter totally. She surged forwards in triumph and her impatience for blood cost her dearly as Seifer's ignored blade stabbed clear through where her heart had been. She snarled as the blade pierced her empty shell and merely jabbed an elbow backwards. Seifer expecting his wound to be mortal was caught flat-footed and it stabbed him in the shoulder-blade and he was thrown back with a dull _crack _and a hiss of pain, barely catching himself before he could fall.

Round two. No result.

Tisiphone stood. Heat radiated off her as the cracks across her ruined body spread further. "Just a distraction." She could feel a void radiating from the centre of the Garden, pulling her in. She motioned backwards to the terrified and fascinated soldiers watching the conflict. Not a single one of them wasn't hesitating between cheering for their insane 'leader' or for the two SeeDs to take her down, but they were still too scared of her to disregard her order. Especially when it took them farther away from her. "Go," she hissed. "The core. Destroy it. Annihilate them all." She looked back at the SeeDs and laughed as a great joy rose up in her. If this was her last battle so be it. But she would tear the soul out of the Garden as she fell.

"Come, we die together."

* * *

A new sun blasted heat down over the ocean.

Almas winced in pain as the Zodiark wheeled and flew through the air above her as the other Espers poured magic and fire onto their leader and tried to bring it down. Hot plasma and materials unknown to any science burnt up in the fires of their passage as thin lances of pure force stabbed down from the ornate halo of the snakelike Esper and dissolved to ash whatever they touched.

Almas cried out in concentration and Melanthios laughed and rushed forward to strike while her physical body was unguarded. Shadows rushed out and speared towards the girl, only to suddenly fall away as a thin slice of silver ran through them and he stepped back as a bullet tore through the space bare millimetres from his head.

Li brought the _Shai'en_ up and charged at her enemy screaming a battlecry, as Leonard fired around her towards the man in black. Black shadows broke up and reformed and Melanthios was forced backwards, spitting curses as the Shumi-made blade swung through his attacks effortlessly.

"_Useless!_" Li shouted at the worldshell as she slashed down and a ragged gnash opened in Melanthios' cheek. She winced as light blasted down on her from above and turned just in time as something large and heavy swung past her. Chaos raised a wizened hand and was readying another chunk of magical stone when a beam from the Zodiark sliced it away and the Esper was forced to turn back to the battle taking place above.

"We can make a deal," Melanthios breathed as he stepped back. _Driven back by two apes, how embarrassing._

"No," Li said calmly as she slashed away another tendril of darkness headed past her.

The desperate creature tried again. "Dollet can rule the world again, like it did before the first Lunar Cry. You could command the world."

But Li was implacable. "No." The _Shai'en_ sliced down again closer to the man in black and a very human bead of sweat appeared on his inhuman head.

"I can offer-"

"_NO!"_ Li screamed and this time the blade bit, stabbing through Melanthios chest. She flicked the sword out and it curved upwards, black mist streaming out of his chest.

"IiiIIIii CCaannnnNN-" was all Melanthios managed as he fell to knees and looked up at the young Dollet woman stood above him breathing hard, and his focus was lost and suddenly the Espers were wavering in their attack, and looking towards Almas.

* * *

Diablos was thrown back, his hand ripping free with a grotesque tearing sound, and Quistis fell forward into Siren's arms.

"Go," the woman said weakly. A thin whine permeated the chamber and Siren could feel the strength ebb from her as power surged through Odine's roughshod machinery and was eaten greedily by the magikiller sphere at its centre. The sound that heralded death for any magical creature in its radius.

"No. No, no no no-"

Quistis could feel the ground far beneath her, past the ruined Garden floors, right down to the surface of the Earth. The heartbeat of the world suffused it. "Find-" she coughed up blood. "Find Rinoa." She shook her head at the look in Siren's eyes and searched inside herself for the power she knew was there. "I'm not giving you a choice."

And without any chance to argue further Quistis reached for that power, and without a chance to argue Siren was gone in a flash of light, replaced with the sound of footsteps as black-clad Galbadian footsteps swarmed into the chamber and took aim.

"_How noble of you."_

Quistis turned to face Diablos and she allowed no emotion except scorn to cross her face. "I wouldn't expect…a creature like you to understand."

Diablos grins once as he looks at the bloodstained woman and turns away. _"She's die like the rest when we-"_

The words die in his mouth as energy exploded out of Quistis. Black wings folded around and down in reaction as he prepared for her attack. When nothing happened he risked a glance between his defences and could see only the faint smile on Quistis' face. A cold light suffused the woman and he could see with a jolt (_and is that a slash of fear through your heart Diablos?)_ the light pulsing through her clothing where his hand had found its mark. With a sudden flash of uncertainty he looked behind himself. The walls and floor pulsed with a cage of lights. Metal dripped down and ran across the floor in molten pools as it melted in the insane heat that covered the walls of the Garden's core. For the first time in a long while true fear whipped through Diablos as he realised his escape routes have suddenly been sealed up and his power was fading as the vortex at the heart of Garden powered up. _Shut it down. Shut it down or die here with the SeeD bitch!_

Quistis whipped a hand up and sparks flew from it as she forced every cell in her body to keep standing and face down her enemy. Not the harsh light of true Sorcery but the cold light of the world itself.

Blue Magic.

* * *

The fight had travelled from the corridors of the residential dorms into the central chamber of the Garden as strike and counter-strike came together and blurred into a martial ballet as Squall and Seifer fought with all the strength they had to bring down the enraged Tisiphone. Jagged holes and deep scores in the walls and floors showed their progress as ground was gained and lost until finally they faced each other in the ruined concord of the sea-swept lower level.

"You deserve it! _ALL OF YOU!"_

Squall fell back as the relentless fists pounded against his blade. The Lionheart cracked and splintered and finally shattered with fatigue, and he jumped back as the last fist came _through_ the blade to him directly in his throat. He fell back coughing, trying to blink stars from his eyes as Seifer took the opportunity to make his own attack. The blonde man's gunblade sliced down and through her outstretched arm before she could draw it back and with only a faint slice Tisiphone's hand fell to the floor.

She didn't seem to notice. Screaming in either rage or frustration she leapt forward again and clubbed Seifer with her stump, the blow making his head whip back to hit the wall with a sick thud.

Squall climbed unsteadily to his feet coughing blood out of his mouth as Tisiphone charged at him. He could feel the corridor moving underneath him and tried to bring the Lionheart's butt up, but he could already see it was no good. _Shit. _He watched with detached interest as Tisiphone planted one foot forward and brought her remaining hand around to slam a bone-shattering blow into his head.

It never connected, as a miracle occurred.

Tisiphone's leg, carved up in the first stages of the battle, finally bent and broke with the strain. With a look of surprise on her face she fell forward onto her remaining hand. Squall's vision cleared for one instant as he saw salvation appear from the jaws of death and he stepped forward, and with the remains of his sword made his final strike.

The jagged end of the Lionheart's broken blade slammed into and through Tisiphone's face like smashing glass. The right side of her head simply vanished as it cracked and powdered under the blow. One hand reached out for the wall to steady her body but it was no good as the Garden scraped painfully across the salt plains and she was thrown back against the wall. She looked up, more in puzzlement than in anger, and the last thing her left eye saw was the Lionheart's jagged point, and the face of Squall Leonheart as he drove the remaining blade through her head to pin her to the wall.

Squall tried to jump back but the shaking of the Garden betrayed him as a hand grabbed him around the throat, and he found himself face to ash-streaked face with the enemy.

"All…deserved…all…die" Tisiphone managed weakly, tears in her eyes. _All for nothing._

The hand released him and fell to the ground with a dull thud. It shattered on impact.

The rest of her body followed as Tisiphone's power finally ran dry, magical body succumbing to the insane damage she had piled up over all the months of fighting, and she died.

Squall sat and watched as the worldshell dissolved. Eventually the only sign she had ever existed was a ringing in the air and a scrap of red cloth pinned to the wall by the Lionheart.

_Finally. Finally…_

Then as the Garden hit a rise on the Esthar plains the floor rose up, and he fell into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Almas felt the jolt as Tisiphone died. Like a dam bursting she felt the alien power inside her finally slip past the defences the woman had maintained, and it flowed into the Espers to bring them under her control at last.

He felt it as well. The look on his face changed from fury, to shock, to horror, and finally to realisation. A thin wail emerged from Melanthios' lips that quickly became a scream as he realised the full situation before him now. Shadows ran wild as the Espers thrashed wildly in the air above him and he fed everything he had into them to keep control, any control at all as Tisiphone died. It wasn't enough and he screamed into the air:

"_Go! Spread the word! Burn humanity to the ground! LET THE SKY RAIN ASHES!"_

_He's making them run wild_, Almas thought in shock. She looked up at the Espers surrounding the Garden. The rage and confusion channelled through the man in black found its way into them and they writhed in the air with the intent to do harm. Without thinking she opened her mouth and said:

"No, stay."

And they obeyed.

* * *

"_Fall back! FALL BA-"_

The Galbadian's cry was cut short as choking gas spewed forth from nowhere and engulfed his position. As quickly as he fell the poison was gone and Quistis reached down through stores of knowledge and _changed_ it and wind blasted the chamber. Men were tossed around the room like ragdolls as she knocked aside a crushing blow from Diablos and stared into his eyes.

She blinked and Diablos threw himself back as pencil-thick beams of light flew out from her hands and tore his wings ragged. Quistis stepped back and fought a cough as she replaced blood with power and threw it out as hard as she could into the encroaching soldiers as the machinery behind her whined and complained and slowly dragged itself into action.

Something long and ice-cold flew out of the darkness and sunk into her flesh with a dull pain that didn't reach her, and she turned as the Esper charged forward. Mateus thrust his/her/it's trident out and the air turned white as it bounced with a resounding crash from Quistis' blue-tinged barrier. She looked up and her eyes met those of the woman embedded to the Esper. The Esper was already rearing for another strike, but she was reaching for more power from the earth below her, and the lance melted away as fire came from nowhere and the Esper recoiled with a screech when the flame scorched over its flesh.

"_Don't you fucking rats ever die?"_ Diablos roared.

"Not…to you," Quistis coughed out, and tasted blood on her mouth. _Just a little more. Please Hyne just give me more _time. She raised her shield again as the furious Esper resumed its attack at the same time as Diablos rushed forward past her ranged attacks and into killing distance. She stepped forward to meet him, swinging her hand around as fast as she could, a trail of blue fire following that met Diablos' clawed had and burnt it to a crisp.

Diablos just stood there for one second as if unable to believe what had just happened, and then suddenly space bent as he used his power to throw himself out of the melee. He smashed into a luckless Galbadian soldier and the two of them fell back against the metal wall of the Garden Core. Quistis managed a bloody chuckle (_just another coward)_ before turning, but too slowly, and Mateus slithered forward lightning-fast out of her blind spot and stabbed forward.

She screamed out as the Trident slammed through her. With an instinct born of desperation she reached out to grasp the hilt of the massive barbed weapon. She could see in hazy vision the victorious Galbadian soldiers running up and past her, towards the thing she had been ordered to protect. Ordered by her friends. _No! NO!_ Her mind rebelled and she reached deep down, farther than she ever had before, for more power. Shouting prays to Hyne and the world she took the power she found there and dragged it all back up into the light.

Time stopped. Galbadians skidded to a halt and turned to look as suddenly the bloody and dead (_dead, she must be dead)_ woman seemed to glow from within. The floor under them and the air around them was filled with swirls of light, and before anyone could react the blue wind sweeps them all up and takes them away _somewhere_, and everything turns to blue fire that burned with a force incomparable to any magic as the shockwave exploded out of nowhere and into the room and everything, the men, the

trident piercing her body, the Esper

standing over her

were all burned to

nothing.

Diablos took his hands away from his eyes and for a second thought he had involuntarily taken himself back to Olesia. Everything had turned white. It wasn't until the ringing in his ears stopped and his vision adjusted that he saw the metal underfoot had had the colour scorched out of it, with only dull streaked patches of black ash the sole evidence anyone had ever existed inside that blue pulse of death.

Quistis stood at the centre of the white room, ruined body dripping red down onto the pristine floor like some kind of obscene abstract sculpture. Diablos took one moment to revel in victory and he stepped forward to destroy his target, but then she opened her eyes and stared at him, pupils glowing the most intense blue he'd ever seen as the machine finally activated and he realised with horror he had mere seconds to live and nowhere to run, finally nowhere to escape to.

* * *

Melanthios' whine was pitiful a he fell to his knees. He shouted and entreated the beings above him but not one of them moved an inch as they stared down at Almas. Li looked on disbelievingly at the man in black, reduced from a chilling presence that struck out and killed with a word to a broken lunatic shouting at the air.

"It's over," Almas said calmly. She felt the knowledge flow through her. "Resign yourself."

The man in black pounded the floor like a child having a tantrum. "I had so many plans…"

A rumble came from above and Almas and Melanthios looked up at the Espers. One had stood forward of its siblings. The voice came from around them as Zalera spoke up, the whisper of the woman on his shoulder coming a split-second after the booming voice of his grinning skull.

"COMMAND US "_command us""_

"_Destroy them all!"_ Melanthios screamed as if shouting the desperate command would make it happen. But he was ignored.

"It's time to stop," Almas said softly as the Esper looked down on her. "This isn't what your people wanted you to become."

"AND WHO ARE YOU LITTLE GIRL "_little girl"_ THAT TELLS US THIS? "_this?""_

She spoke the truth at them. "I'm a messenger, from your people. The only one they could make in time, before the Guardians came for them." Almas looked up at the Gods that swam in the air. _Hyne please don't let me screw this up._ She could feel something pulling at her from the Garden below, and knew she had little time.

"AND YOUR MESSAGE? _"your message?""_

"That your duty is over."

* * *

"_RINOA!"_

Rinoa turned in shock from the wounded SeeD she was administering as a shape bashed through the door like it wasn't even there. Hands grasped her around the lapels and she looked up to see Siren almost dragging her from the room. "Siren! What's wrong?" _Wait a minute, if Odine's machine is- _"_Why are you still here!_"

"I need your power," Siren said with an intensity Rinoa had never heard. "I need you to power _me_."

Rinoa shook her head. "But…" _It's dangerous._ The vortex shuddered through the Garden and every mage still inside was feeling the drain as it stripped their magic away and devoured it. Siren was almost falling apart as Rinoa watched.

"I don't care! I don't care, just come and help me!"

Rinoa felt a shadow fall over her shoulders and she shivered as she asked: "Siren, where's Quistis?"

* * *

Zalera was silent. He only looked up. All of the Espers followed his lead and Almas, Li and Leonard did the same. The strongest Esper seemed to shiver in the air and its presence appeared in their heads, more like a memory than a voice, as the Zodiark spoke for the first and last time.

"_**WILL WE DREAM?"**_

Almas smiled in relief she felt the soothing calm wash through her from below as the magikiller field reached into her and the Espers. Even as she felt the power falling away from her and exhaustion creep up she stole one look back up at the Espers as they dissolved into nothing. She felt a part of herself pass away with them as the ancient magic in her system was torn away. _Well, at least that won't bother me anymore._

Sparkling rainbows filled the air as she fell to her knees. She could hear Li and Leonard's voices but they sounded like they were coming from the end of a faraway tunnel as fatigue finally claimed her.

_It's over._

_It's over at last._

* * *

Diablos turned away as the assault continued and the waves of energy rolled over and through him, burning like fire. He flung out a clawed hand and the woman's beam of burning light bent around him but not far enough and more holes formed in his wings.

_How? HOW?_

"_Just die already! Die! DIE!"_

Diablos screamed in frustration and pain as another attack slid harmlessly away from Quistis' shielding and a lance of blue light swung out to meet him. The air soaked with poisons and blinding light and magic-devouring force as the last blue mage drew on all the skills she had seen and learned over the course of her life, and nature itself responded and gave her the power to make them real and smash them into Diablos' form, and behind her Odine's deadly machinery tore away at Diablos' soul as it's vortex reached out past Balamb and across the world.

"You never understood," Quistis said quietly, almost gently, as the power rose out of the earth and through her to slam into the double-crossing Guardian. "You always drew your strength from the darkness, but no darkness can survive when exposed to…the…_light!_"

Energy encased the room as Quistis threw everything she had at the Guardian at the same time as a massive explosion of harsh white light rocked the doors behind her. She looked past her enemy to see (_no!)_ Siren walking in and tried to wave her out as the magikiller machinery ate away at the Guardian. Siren came on regardless and Quistis saw Rinoa behind her. Diablos must have seen her too, because the wail he made next was one of absolute fear as Rinoa and Siren added their magic to her own assault and the three forces of Guardian, Mankind and the World finally broke through Diablos' maze of defences and burned away his carapace like snow exposed to a furnace.

With one final scream of anger and pain Diablos was suddenly gone, like he had never existed. Only the three women stood there, surrounded by light arcing through the air between them in the empty and blackened chamber, the soft noise of Garden's machinery behind them the only sound.

Rinoa looked over at Quistis and smiled. "Yes!" _We got here in time. _She punched the air and started to walk over to the older woman. "_We did it_! I hope wherever he goes he gets what's coming to hi- _QUISTY!"_

Quistis collapsed onto her knees as the light faded and her strength gave out. Her soaked uniform crumpled around her as blood poured from her shirt onto the metal surface of the Garden's core. She looked up Rinoa. "Hey Rin," she said weakly.

Siren body-checked Rinoa out of the way and grabbed Quistis hand as she fought to drag power from Rinoa's junction and feed it into the wounds but nothing happened. Odine's field ate her energies even as she tried to find some way to throw it out, reshape it, _force_ the destructive power within her to heal instead of kill and she screamed in frustration. She looked down for a sign it was working, any sign at all, but the gaping wounds remained stubbornly untouched and the blonde woman was staring past her into infinity. "Quistis, Quistis, speak to me," Siren breathed as she stared down at the bloody and broken form. She felt light in Siren's arms and the lack of weight, the sudden tenuousness of the woman terrified her.

Quistis looked up as if seeing her there for the first time and brushed a tear from her eye. "Hey," she breathed, reaching up with a bloody hand. Siren reached down to grasp it and was pulled forward as Quistis' lips met hers.

Siren tasted blood in her mouth but didn't care. "I'm here. Oh God I'm here."

"Rinoa-" Quistis stopped as a flood of coughs and useless gasps wracked her body as air tried to find its way into ruined lungs and.

"What," Rinoa asked, her voice so quiet it was almost inaudible. "What is it?"

"Did we win?"

"Of course."

Quistis smiled in pleasure. "Look after...Squall...okay? Hyne knows what…screw-ups he'll make...if we're not there."

Rinoa laughed with tears in her eyes as she gripped Quistis' hand, as if doing so would stop the flow of life from her friend's body. "Yes! Yes, of course." She wiped the tears away and laughed hopelessly. "Someone has to keep an eye on him."

Quistis looked back at Siren. "Do you remember…" Quistis' breath caught in her throat as the blue power finally sparked and died and all that was left was her own smashed body laying there surrounded by blood. "Do you…remember what I asked…in Esthar?" she whispered feebly.

_Will you take me there, one day?_

Siren nodded desperately as Rinoa shouted for help from outside the core, someone, _anyone._ "Yes, _yes!_ Just hold on a little longer okay, we can-

"Then…let's go there. Together."

Siren looked back at Rinoa with tears in her eyes and the young Sorceress could do nothing but shake her head and cry. Siren looked back into Quistis eyes and nodded once, slowly. _Fuck Bahamut and his laws,_ she thought, and reached inside herself for her own long-disused power to find the way back to her home.

"Rin," Quistis mouthed quietly. She seemed to shimmer in the air.

Rinoa's own voice was no louder. "Yes?"

"You were never…my relative," Quistis said with a radiant smile as she and Siren begin to fade out of view and into nothing. "But I'm glad you were…my sister."

And with a shimmer of sparks in the air they were gone, and Rinoa was left alone in the central chamber of Balamb Garden, with only bloodstains on the floor and the sound of approaching footsteps behind her. A hand touched her on the shoulder, and she looked up to see Irvine staring down at her with a confused look on his face. With a cry of resignation and grief she gripped the lapels of the cowboy's jacket, buried her head in his chest, and wept.

* * *

Squall stood up shakily. With one hand on the wall for support he wrenched the broken blade from the wall. The force of it threw him back against the opposite side of the concord, where he fell panting and in shock to the floor.

"_SQUALL!"_

Squall looked around to see Zell rushing towards him and before he could raise a hand to protest he was in a bone-shattering hug with the man.

"We did it! We did it man! They're pulling back!"

It took Squall a second to realise who Zell was talking about. "The Galbadians."

"They're _surrendering _man! The Espers just all up and vanished at the same time and now people're just dropping their weapons and- _YEAH!" _the man punched the air in sheer joy, knocking a chunk of ceiling down onto his head. He didn't notice.

Squall laughed and ran a hand down his face as if doing so would make the fatigue slide away. "Yeah." He felt a laugh bubble up from inside himself as Irvine and Selphie appeared behind Zell, holding hands and singing something off-key as Laguna lead them. He could feel the dull throb of the anti-magic vortex fading away as Garden's engines gave up the ghost. _You did it Odine. You crazy son of a bitch._

"We did it."

Squall looked out across the Garden. Barely anything remained standing but for a second Squall saw through exhausted eyes the Garden as it had been, and he exulted.

_We did it._

* * *

_I hear sound in the darkness._

_The sound of seashells scraping together in the water._

"_We're here," a voice says above me._

_I remember who it belongs to, and open my eyes._

_Oh Siren, you were right, it's so beautiful._

_I lay my head in her lap and just watch the shining sea roll in over the rainbow of shells. It must be night-time because the stars are out and now I realise why, why you never told us where you lived, because if anyone saw this they would never want to leave, would spend their lives trying to reach it and damn anyone who tried to stop them._

_I can see the light from a perfect moon on the spires and towers of the opposite shore. I can see waves crashing and leaving oil-slick rainbows in their wake. Moving bodies glitter like miniature crystals in the city beyond, a city of glass and crystal. It's so beautiful. "Let's stay," I tell her dreamily. I feel like I could fall asleep here. I desperately want to go there, meet whatever people live there in that shining city._

"_Of course, of course," I hear Siren reply as she strokes my hair. I close my eyes again, I'm so tired. We can explore in the morning. I can hear Siren's voice in my ear as the light fades and I fight to stay awake. Stay with her._

_I can hear her voice as I drift away._

"_I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you."_

_I try to reply but the words don't seem to come, and Siren's song is the last thing I hear as the light reaches out and claims me. It comes down from the sky out and whispers my name and holds me close as it takes me away._

_To the warm blue light that welcomes me like a lost sister._

_To the world._


	32. Song of Siren

_Hey. I know it hasn't been so long but- no. This still seems silly. Rinoa said it would help but it doesn't. It's not like you're even buried here. I kept my promise. Even if I came back here and you stayed there. Maybe you're just a part of my world now even as I'm a part of yours. A heartbeat in the city. It's a nice thought._

_It was a wild party of course, after we took care of…took care of business. I'm surprised anyone even managed to move the next day. Or that Zell didn't wind up in the infirmary; he hugged Shiva so hard he looked like he was going to get spontaneous frostbite._

* * *

Irvine sighed contently and leaned back in the sofa, brushing a paper streamer from his lapels. Selphie lay asleep across his lap. "It's still hard to believe it's all over," he said with a grin.

The Trabia Garden's entertainment budget had never been as large as Balamb's, but Selphie and her motley crew had worked overtime to ferry as much material as they could carry on their backs and the festivities had been wild. Reflection and grieving would come later, but for this one night as Trabia rested on Esthar's Salt Plains next to its wrecked sister building, the celebration of the survivors had been the order of the day. They had all earned the right.

Squall shrugged and smiled back. "The Second War didn't take much longer." Selphie's private apartment had shanghai'd for the Garden leadership's own and more personal celebration and had been reduced to a cluttered mess, but she didn't seem to mind. Relief and joy coursed through Squall's body and refused to be dislodged by any thoughts of the uncertain future.

Irvine laughed. "That it didn't old man, that it didn't."

"Who are you calling 'old'?"

"We're all older, comrade," Irvine said, putting on his best world-weary-sharpshooter voice. Selphie giggled as she lay her head on his lap, staring up at the ceiling happily.

"What do you think's gonna happen now?" Rinoa asked, one hand permanently fastened to Squall's as they sat side-by-side on the sofa across the table from Irvine and Selphie.

"I intend to finish this bottle for a start," Irvine said quickly, and drained it before Selphie could complain. "Sephy, I haven't been drunk in years. Give me one night."

"_One_ night," the brunette replied.

Irvine put down the now-empty container and shrugged. "Well, Esthar is gonna have to deal with the fallout of a few thousand displaced Galbadian troops suddenly appearing on their shores but I don't really think they'll have any moral quandries telling them to disarm and walk the hell home. Most of them probably didn't really want things to come to this either. Who knows, maybe some of them will stay if Laguna will allow it. Make a new life in the deadly demon-city of technology."

"I heard that," the president of Esthar said walking into the room and surveying the damage. "Yeesh, you kids." He sat down next to Squall and drew a glass of something unidentifiable from the nearest bottle. "The deadly demon-city of technology and debauchery-"

"Knew I forgot something."

"-will happily take in any refugee from the war who wishes to make a peaceful life for him or herself."

"Aaah, Kiros has trained you well," Irvine muttered as everyone burst out laughing.

"_Thank_ you for that and please remember that _my_ army is alive and well and _you_ are squatting in _my_ country."

"We're just a bunch of freeloaders," Selphie said, and that started everyone laughing again.

"The end of war…" Rinoa whispered to no-one.

Laguna nodded with a grin plastered on his face. "There's no Galbadian government left. Caraway died in G-Garden and their ability to project force across the world died with that place – sorry Rinoa but just let me say what a beautiful job he pulled in sinking that behemoth. The generals were all exiled or killed by Tisiphone." He shrugged. "They're going to be afraid and defenceless and probably waiting for our retaliation, something I have no intention of doing. I'm not so sure I want to see Deling fall into anarchy again in my lifetime. So we'll probably end up moving in and helping them rebuild sooner or later." He shrugged. "I think we can offer the Galbadians enough to offset their rather…ah…_devout_ nationalist mindset."

"I have an idea about that," Squall said. "But it'll wait 'till morning."

Zell raised a glass. "Here here. The end of war."

"The end of war," they said happily, raising their own and taking a pull.

"I just wish…things could have ended a little better," Rinoa said wistfully. She noticed as she said it that Squall's head unconsciously went to the window to look outside. She knew towards what.

The presence of the neat lined rows of filled black bags on the plain outside the beached Gardens were an almost physical weight that tore at Squall like a jagged knife. Rooted out of Balamb, recovered with what care and dignity could be given to burned or drowned or smashed or bullet-riddled corpses, and where possible identified and mourned. Over three hundred SeeDs had stayed with the Garden as the young, old and infirm had been removed on whatever had floated. Just over two thirds of those who remained had perished defending their home.

_Two hundred dead._

The figure itself crushed aside the other thoughts in his mind and stuck fast as if hammered in with a nailgun, and for the first hours of the night even trying to approach the wretched number had made him want to vomit. For one moment he had felt his mind fly back all those years to childhood and he had looked up into Rinoa's eyed and asked: _Is it my fault?_

_They chose this place to make their stand, Squall. They had no regrets,_ Rinoa had replied softly as she helped him to bed in the strange borrowed T-Garden quarters. _Quistis told me that. They _never_ had regrets._

One final presence, notable for its absence, one that hit harder than all the rest put together. Irvine had come up to him in the aftermath as he had sat on the steps of the concord trying to absorb the fact of their victory, Rinoa clutched to his side and a dead look in his eyes. Finally the words had gotten past Squall's exhaustion and sunk like cold liquid mercury through his skin to rest at the centre of his heart. _You're lying_, he'd said instantly even as he had known the man was telling the truth, and it had hurt so, so deeply. Not even a body to mourn over. Siren had taken her away and come back with nothing. Now the Guardian just sat staring out into infinity on the Garden's rooftop, looking out over the wasteland. She spoke to no-one.

_I sent her down there to keep Rinoa, _he had admitted to only one person. _I wanted Quisty to protect her like she was just some weak civilian who needed to be guarded. God Shiva I told her to stay there and she died._

_She always knew it might come to this,_ Shiva had said simply when the magic-devouring vortex had been switched off and she returned to them_. Would have rather had Diablos taking away all we worked so hard to protect and the Garden in Galbadian hands? She did what she had to._ To that he had had no answer.

Rinoa sighed deeply and looked out of the window across the room from the circle of comrades. The sounds of celebration could still be heard echoing down the corridor as Trabian SeeDs celebrated with their Balamb counterparts. "Where do we go from here?" she asked quietly.

* * *

_We lost one more friend though. At least with this one we all saw it coming._

_It didn't make it any easier though._

* * *

Squall's heart felt heavy in his chest as he and Nida looked up at the giant shaft. It had only been three days since the final conflict but he had sworn he would see this duty through, no matter how hard it would be. He tried to look away from the central controls, still stained with blood. "Are you sure?"

Nida nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry commander."

he sighed in exasperation. "Call me Squall, Nida."

Nida nodded and ignored him. "Yes commander. It put up with everything we threw at it but in the end the shock of hitting the salt plains was the final straw."

"Couldn't we fix it? Trabia and Galbadia Gardens managed to-"

Nida was shaking his head. "T and G had superficial damage commander. Fixed by just bending some metal into the right shape. Here we've got smashed flight halos _but also_ the connecting machinery, about a dozen Centran devices we can't figure out, what we think are the main drive-shafts. On top of that pretty much everything in a two-hundred-metre radius of Headmi- of the battle down here was pulped into flat metal we'll never salvage. Essentially sir, Garden's spine is broken."

"She'll never fly again," Squall finished.

Nida was feeling even worse than he looked. Garden had been _his_ ship. The rest of SeeD had been mere tenants. "That's right sir."

"Can we salvage _anything_?"

The man ploughed on as if getting it out of the way would somehow make it all not real. "It's beyond repair commander. Most of the outer hull is gone or resting on the interior floor. The structural supports have been torn out or melted. She's gone sir. It's all we can do to keep her from caving in overnight. To be honest I'm nervous just standing in here."

Squall put a hand against the metal shaft and closed his eyes. Memories flooded back. The first time he had seen Garden. The first time he had hefted a gunblade and swung it. Falling back in terror after sneaking into the training room and having to be rescued from the Rex's jaws by Garden staff. Meeting Seifer and Zell and Quistis for the first (but no, it hadn't been, had it?) time. Meeting Rinoa. The struggle of the Second War as they carried SeeD across the ocean with them. The first kiss on the balcony, under the stars. Talking in the cafeteria with his friends, watching the new intake SeeD cadets. Not just his memories. Whole lives spent on the move dedicated to the ideas of SeeD. He lifted his hand away. The faint sweat on his palm left a ghostly handprint in the metal. Garden was his home. Everyone's home.

But we all have to leave home some day.

Squall turned to Nida. "Draw up a list of everything Trabia garden wants. Ask Selphie. Post notices to the students and faculty to gather what they can. Inform Laguna's recovery teams."

Nida nodded and a faint rush of air escaped his lips. Trying to hold back a sob maybe. "Yessir."

"We're leaving, Nida. Garden can't take us any further."

* * *

_I wasn't there._

_It was just too close._

_But I watched._

* * *

They stood lined up in rows before the shoreline. Those injured in the battle had demanded that they be allowed to come and no-one had even considered trying to stop them. Comrades supported each to their feet as Squall stood before them, the ruined shell of Balamb Garden his backdrop. Rinoa, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Shiva, Laguna and Ellone stood nearby looking on solemnly as he began to speak.

"The Esper War is over."

He stopped as the cheer ran through the cloud like lightning and merely held up a hand for calm. He came soon enough and he continued.

"SeeD was established to guard an unknown frontier. A promise of resistance and a vanguard against a threat so terrible even its own founders dared not reveal it to the world. That promise was fulfilled six years ago and it has been fulfilled again here, by you."

"You've done the world an amazing an unique service. While not everyone will truly know or understand what happened over the course of this one year, _all of us_ have saved humanity from something far worse than one mere dictator." He ignored the whispered mutterings and raised his voice to be heard as some began to realise the full significance of their gathering.

"President Loire will be moving to establish the Protectorate of Galbadia under joint Estharian and Dolletian rule. Humanity that has been fractured for so long will be one people again. We have all paid dearly to come to this point, and there is no need for blood to be spilled further. SeeD is an organisation devoted to defending the rights and freedom of all people, but we do it by the sword. In the times of peace ahead, swords can be better used melted down and made into other things."

"SeeD will be disestablished."

He ploughed on through the groans and cries of protest. "The details will take some time, and we'll help you make any arrangements you need. SeeD gave us our skills so that we could overcome any challenge we met. We all need to make our own way in this new world, and I have no doubt we will meet the exceed its challenges too." And as he said the words he felt tears come to his eyes. "Whatever happens when we leave this place know that it's been a pleasure and an honour serving with you."

He saluted, and as one form they saluted back and he only barely managed to speak the final word of his command as his voice broke. "Dismissed."

The final graduates of Balamb Garden stared, but not at Squall. They looked past their commander and up at the ruins of their home and not one of them did not find their own way to say goodbye. Eventually the first man broke away, and the dam broke as the ex-mercenary organisation fell out for the last time and fragmented to go their separate ways. Friends wandered off together. Some just shook their heads sadly and looked over at their commander (and for some he would always be their commander), but Squall had already turned away to his friends and family and no-one saw the tears in his eyes.

Squall turned to the final three members of the small group standing slightly apart from the others. That bond between them had always been their strength. "Are you all ready?"

As usual Li Nuo spoke for the trio. "Yes commander."

"Hey come on, he's not your commander anymore. In fact you outrank him considerably," Irvine quipped as Zell elbowed him in the ribs.

Li ignored the commotion and reached out a hand. "It's been a pleasure sir. We'll be in Esthar for the next few weeks if you need us." Her voice had already taken on the imperious tone Squall remembered from her father. An inherited trait maybe?

Squall shook it. "Take care of yourself and your country Duchess. Ask Laguna how he managed it." He looked into Li's eyes and her steely gaze met his. "On second thoughts, don't ask him for anything except building material. You'll handle the rest just fine on your own." He turned to the man next to her. "Watch yourself soldier."

"Keep your head above the mayhem Leo," Irvine said with a smile.

"Yes_sir_," Leonard Nerva replied with a grin as his good hand gripped Li's. The two walked off towards the sleek black transport waiting for them. The Estharian holding the door bowed low as they approached and the two climbed in. The car didn't leave though, it was waiting for the last member of the trio, who Squall turned to now.

The two faced off. Squall stared down at Almas Jordin and sighed. "I never really knew what to make of you cadet. Then I thought I did. Then I didn't again. I guess I still don't."

Almas smile and it was the cocksure grin he remembered from their first meeting in place of the unearthly smile of whatever had sent her to them as a final helping hand. "We don't always get what we want. Sir."

"And you're sure you're…"

She shrugged and nodded. "That magic-thingy of Odine's took it all, in the end. I guess the people that made me thought that I could be a normal person after I…discharged my duties. That was nice of them. I'm just some brat now. Again. Whatever."

Squall shook his head. "You were a SeeD Almas. That's more than people twice your age will ever have the privilege of saying."

"I'll never forget, commander."

Squall saluted, and she returned it perfectly. "Dismissed, Jordin."

He watched as she jogged off to join her friends. The three smiled and laughed over some private joke as the doors swung shut and the escort left across the desert. Another one met it coming the other way, and Squall knew who was inside. "Well, that's it then," he whispered quietly.

"No regrets. Only the future," Selphie said.

Squall turned to look at his family. "The future." He shook his head and looked around to see the Esthar vehicle pull to a halt and Kiros climb out, followed by a man and a woman. He sighed and pulled himself away from Rinoa, who looked up at him.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

"I'll be fine." Squall nodded once, and the caught Shiva's eye. The Guardian nodded and fell into step with him as they walked towards the new arrivals. "How are you feeling?"

Shiva looked faintly embarrassed. "I'm fine. Rinoa is…I'm sorry Squall."

"Don't apologise Shiva, It's not your fault."

He understood her problem. He knew it himself. Odine's magikiller machinery had sucked the prana, the atoms of magic itself, out of the very air for immeasurable miles around itself. Possibly the world had been covered as Odine had never been one for subtlety. Only Rinoa's innate Sorcery had survived the magical cataclysm. No person living had escaped the field and the final remnants of blue mage had died with- were gone. Any Guardians who chose to junction in the world had to work throughRinoa Heartilly and only those with a more than casual attachment to humanity remained on Earth. Few others had wanted to risk being caught up and consumed by the human-borne magic furnace inside the young woman. Even assuming that enough free-floating magic remained in the world it would take long and painstaking years before anyone living could junction a Guardian. Most remaining magic would be used to maintain machinery and devices in cities that would suffer without them.

"You have a home here, for as long as you want," Squall said forcefully to his friend and companion.

"That means more than you'll ever know Squall," Shiva said back as they reached the vehicle, and the people standing by it.

Squall sighed as he approached the pair and shook the man's hand as he prepared to do the hardest thing in his life. "Cid, Edea."

Cid shook his head as he looked up at the Garden. "So, here the old building rests. You know I always dreamed of doing this myself."

"Leaving Garden?"

Cid nodded. The words came out quickly. "Oh yes. It was built to defeat a great evil. After you did so I wondered about talking to you about it, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just couldn't do it. It was my home too."

Edea Kramar looked Squall in the eyes. "Where is my daughter, son?"

* * *

_I swear Squall aged a decade when she asked the question. She turned and stared at Shiva when he answered, like she didn't know who she was looking at. Then she just…nodded. I think they went back to Esthar to grieve. Edea didn't want to stay there. In that place filled with memories._

_After the tears there was very little to do. Laguna brought us all back and Esthar practically feted us, the conquering heroes. The days just kind of slipped away with all the organisation and people to chase down and arrangements to be made for the…for the bodies to be sent home._

_And then before we knew it, there was nothing left to do. The last page of the book._

* * *

They stood there inside the building, only the nine of them, two weeks after the final battle. Looking at the walls like children leaving their first home. Which they were, of a kind.

Trabia Garden – the one _true_ Garden now – had begun the roundabout journey back to its home, dropping off SeeDs on a final worldwide tour as it deposited them wherever they had asked to be left. A final scattering of pollen from a great flower.

"It's perfect," Seifer said forcefully, staring at the stone monument intensely.

Squall wanted to shrug but staring down at the collection of plaques engraved and blasted onto the white marble obelisk before him made his shoulders feel too heavy. "This was their home. I think if any place should remember them it's here."

Cid nodded once, solemnly. "Let Balamb Garden itself be their monument." He rubbed tears from his eyes and Edea put a hand around him.

Irvine secured his arm tighter around Selphie's shoulder and nodded. "So, time to go then."

"Where're you guys headed next?" Zell asked, and it would have taken a very sharp person to catch the half-swallowed wavering tone in his voice.

Irvine shrugged but Selphie beat him to the punch. "Odine's looking for some…er…_consultants_…for the moon projects!"

"Test subjects more like," Irvine muttered. He'd go with her anyway of course. "You?"

"Well-"

"It-"

"We're-"

The hall rang with casual conversation as the close-knit group people made plans and talked about the future. Finally the light outside the hull began to dim and one by one they looked back towards the monument, and past it to the stairway, the elevator, the classrooms above that had trained them, the library and training room and infirmary they had spent so much time in. The balconies they had looked out across the ocean from, the rooms and bunks and apartments they had shared. The Garden they had loved so much and called home.

"It was a hell of a ride," Irvine said with a sad smile.

"I'll miss it, all of it," Selphie said softly.

"We'll make sure no-one forgets!" Zell said, voice shaking with emotion.

"Godspeed you brave bastards!" Seifer shouted into the rafters.

"It was a magnificent ending," Shiva whispered.

"You made us proud," Cid said stoically.

"You were all our children," Edea said with tears in her eyes.

"It's all gone and done," Rinoa said quietly at the people they would leave behind forever.

"Goodbye, everyone," Squall said to his departed subordinates and home and friends and family.

Footsteps echoed on the floor as they walked out of the entrance for the final time, and Balamb Garden was left empty. Birds would nest in its rafters one day, other animals that lived in the salt plains would make their homes in the shade of the remaining unbroken rooms. Balamb Garden would always be a shelter for those who needed it most.

"Where do we go from here?" Rinoa asked softly as they walked out of the ruin and into the light. Squall looked up into the sunrise as he replied.

"Anywhere we want."

* * *

_SeeD  
2165 – 0006  
The torch held up  
against the dark._

_Ifrit and Cerberus  
Creation – 0005  
Rest well brave comrades  
your long duty is over._

_Xu Tyynes  
2189 – 0005  
Stone may chip and crumble  
but diamond is unbreakable._

_Quistis Trepe  
2189 – 0006  
A soul walking now  
in the light of other days  
_

* * *

_So that's it._

_We're all still at Esthar of course, for now at least. Laguna wants to build a new Garden back in Balamb but Squall and Cid are trying to talk him out of it. Don't need a mercenary force when there're no separate countries for fights to break out between. Selphie and Irvine are pretty much holed up inside the Clockworks with Odine. Hyne only knows what she's asking that crazy man to build but I'm sure it'll be spectacular. I don't think Carbuncle's influence is helping keep Selphie grounded so god help Irvine's sanity. Zell is…Zell, I guess. He'll still be kicking around when the rest of us are…when most of us are old and in our beds. Laguna clearly hasn't had this much fun in years. Squall and Rinoa take a lot of long walks. I think they'll go back to Deling before they settle down. There's a lot of fear in that city, and I think Squall wants to spend some time helping remove it, rather than create it for once._

_They're getting married soon of course. It's going to be a quiet ceremony, mostly because I think Squall would die of embarrassment if Rinoa insisted on a huge one. I'm invited, and so is Shiva! Selphie's looking forward to it more than Rinoa is if that's even possible. Probably the only thing that could drag her out of Odine's labs at this rate._

_Us? I'll just…keep going, I guess. Rinoa says she doesn't mind me sharing her mind and I'm pretty sure I can keep away from the rapids, so to speak. Carbuncle is still here but nothing could ever part him and Selphie now. The rest of them will find their own way home eventually. Leviathan already went back to Olesia so _he_ can deal with Bahamut from now on. Apparently he's gotten even more paranoid, enthroned there in his kingdom raging at shadows. I won't miss the old snake. Shiva's the same as ever. She has her own crosses to bear and somehow they seem to get heavier all the time. One day I hope she can drop them._

_It's funny really. I never thought it would end like this. It's true what Squall said. We all have to leave home some day._

_But I'll never forget. None of us will._

_So…_

_So long._

_And goodbye._


	33. Golden Sunset

He watched himself through criticizing eyes.

"Relax, you did fine," Laguna said with a cheer in his voice Squall didn't share.

He could barely remember what he had said. It made his skin crawl to see himself on the screen up there. Even worse knowing _other people_ were watching at the same time. He glanced left to see Rinoa looking up at the screen and his stomach un-knotted a little when he saw the expression of pride on her face. _It'll look good Squall. Help people put this whole thing behind us, let us _all_ move on, _she had argued, and eventually he had looked back at the screen as the attractive interviewer asked her next question.

"_-finally the end of a second world war in six years. Thousands of dead warriors and with civilian casualties and displacements – mostly due to I feel ashamed to say Galbadian presence – it's possible the full extent of the damage will never be known. Any response Mr Leonhart?"_

Squall frowned in discomfort at the reminder as the image on the screen shifted uncomfortably in his seat. _"We regret them all. Nobody more than me - than all of us who were there – wishes none of this had happened."_

The pretty Galbadian reporter nodded sombrely and continued. _"A terrible thing to happen, and so soon after the end of the last conflict,"_ she said sadly. _"Hopefully the last for a long while to come."_

"Nicely said," Laguna muttered.

She went on. _"So SeeD is really shut down? After saving the world twice, first from the Estharian Sorceress Adel and now from a war engineered by-"_

Squall's eyes momentarily twitched towards Laguna as the words came out. He, Rinoa and the Estharian president had argued long into the night about how to present their case to the world. In the end Squall had bowed to the man's superior statesmanship. _We can't tell them. It wouldn't do anything except terrify the world. A long-dead species killed by SeeD monsters – I'm sorry lady Shiva but you know that's how people see you – sending their _own_ monsters from beyond the grave? Taking control of a whole continent and nobody even realising? No. We need time to fix this world together. One day the truth can be told, maybe, but not now._ Squall had turned to Rinoa, but she had only shaken her head sadly. _I don't like it, but he's right Squall. He's right._

"_-engineered by the late Secretary-General Fury Caraway, using magically-developed creatures of his own to enforce his will."_ Rinoa's expression changed not a millimetre as the woman went on. _"Can you tell us _why_ you made the decision to disband the SeeD mercenaries?"_

"_What the world needs now are healers, not soldiers,"_ the reply came. This part he remembered fine and he found himself unconsciously leaning forward in a mirror-stance of his image as he recalled the words. _This_ part he had tried with every bone in his body to be sincere. _"SeeD was set up to stop wars. Now that we've accomplished that mission we felt that the people we trained would do better going back home and helping their countrymen to rebuild and bring others together, rather than destroy and tear apart."_

"Nicely said!" Squall didn't bother to turn around to see the grins on Zell Irvine and Selphie's faces that he knew would be there.

"_And what about those lost? Galbadian and Estharian forces were not the only ones to suffer in the conflict."_ The woman had a hard look in her eyes and both Squalls could see this was the question she had been dying to ask as the camera swung towards the third person in the studio, stood behind and to the side of Squall like a faithful guard. Kiros and Laguna had suggested regal elegance over martial stoicism and Shiva had listened. She shone like diamonds under the harsh camera lights.

"_We Guardians lost warriors of our own,"_ Shiva said as she stared unblinkingly at the reporter. With her imposing presence and still form Squall could see how those unfamiliar with Guardians could find the whole ensemble off-putting, especially after their first exposure to the beings had been Ifrit's Deling rampage. _"Irreplaceable comrades we will mourn in our own way."_

"_Sorry err…madam,"_ the reporter said nervously as Shiva stared her down. _"But can we expect to see Guardians helping the Estharian soldiers with-"_

Laguna hissed in mock pain at the reporter's emphasis on the word 'Estharian' as Shiva cut over the woman. "_We only desire to see humanity return to peace once more. We understand that we are an unfamiliar and sometimes unwelcome presence and we do not begrudge you it. We will of course defer to Galbadian wishes as to whether we would be welcome in the rebuilding effort."_

"Galbadian wishes. Nice," Laguna said with a sly smile.

"You taught me well," Shiva replied.

"_Of course SeeD suffered their own share of casualties in the final conflict over the Western Ocean."_

"_Two hundred and sixteen dead," _Squall said bluntly.

"_Among them some of your commanders, Ms Xu Tyyne who lead the Galbadian Garden before the conflict and Ms Quistis Trepe. One of the heroes of the Sorceress War, and a member of the legendary 'Orphanage Gang'."_ The woman went on as Squall's image gave a curt nod. "_Reports from surviving Galbadian soldiers say she gave her life single-handedly defending the Balamb Garden core from Caraway's monsters."_

"_Quistis was my sister and I'll always feel that pain. Everyone who gave their lives in that night did it to rid the world of something that couldn't be allowed to exist. None of them will be forgotten,"_ Squall said. "_I think I can speak for all of- for everyone who was a part of SeeD when I say that their only wish now would be to see the final memories of this conflict wiped from everyone's minds and for all of humanity to look to the future. None of them had any regrets."_

"_And I hope all of Galbadia can join you in those hopes Mr Leonhart."_

* * *

"_Squall errrr Leonhart? Have we met?" she asks the dark-haired boy sitting at the desk next to her spot._

"…_No," he replies. The voice sounds familiar but she can't recall why, and she wishes she could._

"_I'm Quistis, Quistis Trepe. We're in the same assigned group this year. Can I sit here?"_

"_Whatever."_

_She ignores the' back off!' tone she can hear in his voice and sits down, brushing her hair out of her way as she does. It's getting kind of long and she should probably do something about it, but Xu's long hair always looks fantastic and secretly she's jealous. Maybe she'll try bangs or something. "Have you been here long?" she asks the young boy, who ignores her. She tut-tuts under her breath like she remembers her mother doing. Her real mother that is. She can't really remember her much, only that horrible foster family she'd run away from. She remembers something before them, an old building by the sea, but the thought is quickly brushed aside as a second boy sits down next to her and she sighs as she realises who it is._

"_Heya bossy."_

"_Shut up Seifer," she shoots back quickly. She never could stand him. Even though they're nearly the same age Seifer always acts like a child, running around the halls and making a mess everywhere. The old men who run the place are too slow to grab him but she can still catch him when she wants. She knows Garden like the back of her hand already. "That's Xu's seat," she points towards Xu who's already walking towards them with a frown on her face._

"_Xu can sit somewhere else, like next to that cry-baby over there."_

_Quistis knows where Seifer's pointing and doesn't look around. Zell isn't a cry-baby, he just misses his mother. It was only one time anyway but Seifer's never gonna let go of it. "You'll get in trouble."_

_The boy snorts. "Sure I will. It's just a stupid seat. I don't see her name on it!"_

"_Come on Seifer don't be a huge jerk, go sit somewhere else." She really wants to sit next to Xu again. She didn't have much luck making friends last year, just the people in her dorm and a couple of others, and talking with Xu in class is always more fun than when they're apart and she has to listen to the slow old men who teach._

_Seifer snorts. "What are you gonna do, become an Instructor and _make_ me?"_

* * *

"You did great," Laguna repeated as he switched the screen off.

Squall wiped a hand over his face. He hadn't noticed he'd started sweating as he watched, even in the air-conditioned comfort of the Estharian apartment. "It was torturous." He collapses back into the soft embrace of the sofa and yawns. It had been an exhausting day even before the interview, so exhausting that he'd been tempted to ask for the Ragnarok to ferry him and Rinoa back and forth from Galbadia to Deling, but Laguna had refused and given him a smaller airship. Not that 'small' meant much when it came to airships. He'd seen children on the ground at Deling City pointing up in awe at the svelte flying vehicle as they'd landed softly on the city outskirts. "I was terrified the whole time."

Laguna stood and walked over to the window as he talked. "Get used to it Squall. You're all heroes twice over now." He smiled as Squall groaned. "It's not quite up to my level of course but you're going to have to accept it. You're a worldwide hero to Esthar, Dollet, and probably a lot of Galbadia too. That stuff about peace and unity was fantastic."

"I meant it," Squall said quickly.

"I know, that's why it's all going to work." Laguna looked down on his city with a beatific smile. "Just keep doing what you're doing Squall." He coughed nervously. "And er…any news on…?"

Squall stared at Laguna as the man stared at him with an expression akin to a whipped dog. After taking a minute (or two) to ponder whether to just leave him like that he finally raised a hand. Rinoa lifted hers in tandem and the light glinted from the thin golden bands. They were still new enough that Squall regularly checked to see whether they were real, and all this wasn't some induced fever-dream.

"Congratulations you two."

Squall gave a small laugh. "Thanks." He paused for a second before he went on. "Still seems a little unbelievable."

"I always knew you had it in you," Laguna said. He was still facing away from them and when he next spoke his voice was barely a whisper. "Your father would be proud."

Rinoa dodged Squall in the ribs and he looked at her askance. _Do I really have to?_

_Yes._

"Speaking of which…"

"Hmm?"

"We're going to need someone to walk Rinoa down the aisle."

Laguna's face lit up. "Really? And-

"Could you give Kiros some time off so he can do it?" And for all his days Squall would smile at the memory of the look on Laguna's face.

"_Squall!"_ Rinoa almost shouted in shock. "It's not too late for me to shop around for fiancés you know."

"I meant can you do it. Laguna. Obviously."

Laguna stood there open-mouthed for a second before bursting into laughter as the young couple watched. Finally he wiped tears from his eyes and smiled. "It'd be an honour and a pleasure Mr and Mrs Leonhart."

* * *

"_You have a thing for Squall!"_

_She spins around so fast the floor underneath her squeaks as she claps a hand over Xu's mouth and tries to shush her at the same time. "I do not!"_

"_Hmm ,mmff m hmmh fhh Fquafll!"_

"_I'll never share my homework with you again!" she hisses desperately._

"_That's no way to negotiate Ms Trepe." Xu looks around with a wicked gleam in her eye. "HEY SEIFER!"_

_Stick failed. Switch to backup carrot immediately. "I'll give you my desserts for a week!"_

"_Hmmm. Two. And do my laundry as well."_

"_Deal," she breathes with a sigh of relief. If Seifer found out she'd just _die_. Not that she even sees him much anymore. He's always off with that quiet girl and the huge kid now, plotting things. She doesn't really know what but she knows they're up to no good. Still, she doesn't really want to tell the old men either. Garden would be a lot more boring without Seifer Almasy._

"_What do you see in him anyway? He's creepy!" Xu whispers as they sit and eat. They got there pretty early so they have a table at the back. They usually do since between them they can usually finish the instructor's lessons a good ten minutes before anyone else. Other students are already talking about the two smart girls, not even halfway through their third years and already marked._

"_He's just quiet," Quistis says just a little defensively. She doesn't tell her friend that she accidentally found herself in the training centre at the same time as him once. She doesn't exactly know what that funny feeling was when she saw him covered in green blood and sweating heavily in front of a seconds-dead monster, or how she had to practically carry him out of the jungle, but she had felt something tug at her from far back in the past she couldn't remember, and she had cried herself to sleep that night. Knowing she was missing something. Something important._

"_Soooooo?"_

_She's jerked out of her reverie by her friend. "So what?"_

"_So are you gonna ask him out? What about the SeeD pre-exams?"_

_She blushes at the mere thought of it. Squall has a reputation, everyone knows it. But that gold-lined uniform glows brighter in her sight than he does. She has a reputation of her own._

* * *

Night fell on the city. Esthar's streetlamps and houses poured their efforts out into the sky above. But the sky fought back, and in the cloudless sky stars shone their light down upon the city. The dead continent responded in kind, reflecting their glow from the ground and back into the sky. To Rinoa, standing on top of the cliff and staring out over the city and the land beyond, it looked like Esthar was adrift on a sea of moonlight. It was breathtaking. But the scenery was not her concern as she silently walked up to the other woman and stood by her.

Three nights they'd searched. Shiva had apologised that she couldn't (or wouldn't) help but Rinoa wouldn't be deterred. It had finally taken an overheard comment from a passing stranger to find her.

"Hey," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she casually greeted the woman before her.

"Hello Rinoa," Siren replied.

"We're all worried." Siren laughed, and in it Rinoa heard all the sorrows of the world. "You've not been around much lately. I've…I can tell." If she concentrated she could feel the pull of Siren's soul on her well of Sorcery. The junction had never taken up any measurably percentage of her power and lately even less, and it was taking its toll on the Guardian. To any passing eyes Rinoa was standing next to a dangerously thin and dilapidated woman. _Screw it,_ she thought."We don't want to lose you too."

Siren didn't look away from the view. "I decided it here. Even before we knew everything about the Esper War."

"Decided what?" Rinoa asked.

"To stay here, on Earth. To not go back." She laughed, but it was hollowed-out and rough. "I was just a fool. Odine was right."

Rinoa stared in shock at her friend. "Odine said…?"

Siren's shoulders shook and Rinoa put a hand on the woman's shoulder as she fell to her knees. "It's all just so sad," she said in a barely-audible whisper. "What am I supposed to do now?" She turned and looked up at Rinoa, despair in her eyes. "How do you stand it?"

In answer Rinoa looked out across the beautiful landscape. She could spend the rest of her life in Esthar, she knew, and never discover all its secrets. "I was just a child when my mother died." The memory brought a sudden tightness to her chest but she went on, for her friend's sake. "I was never close to my father after that. But I had the Timber Owls. People died there, fighting against my father, and I never had the heart to tell them what my real last name was. I thought about packing it up a couple of times and just leaving it all behind, but in the end I didn't." She brought Siren's face around to look at her own. "You go on. Find some reason to keep going on and when you do hold it close and don't let go."

"Squall?"

She nodded. "Squall." She grasped her friend's hand. "Don't shut us out Siren. Shiva kept quiet for so long and you can tell she still regrets it. She thinks things might have gone differently."

"Thin ice breaks easily," Siren muttered.

"Stay with us for as long as you want," Rinoa said as she turned to leave Siren to grieve in peace. "There'll always be a place for you with us."

"Rinoa!" Siren shouted before the raven-haired woman was out of reach. "Thanks."

Rinoa just smiled and waved.

* * *

_She smiles at herself in the mirror and risks a twirl, to Xu's delight as she stops._

"_Well, congratulations," her friend says, and was that just a small note of envy?_

_She beams at her reflection. "I did it!" _I did it, I DID IT!

"_Where next for the bold young conquering heroine?" Xu intones dramatically. "Will she finally muster the courage to approach the silent lion? Find out this year, only at Balamb Garden!"_

_She sighs as she adjusts the uniform over her hair. She really needs to do something about it. "Maybe. I was thinking…"_

_Xu stares at her friend for a few seconds and her expression darkens. "Ohhhh no. No no no."_

"_What?"_

"_Quistis…"_

"_What!"_

"_You're not _already_ thinking about shooting for instructorship?"_

_She shrugs and tries to avoid meeting her friend's eyes, to no avail. They suck her in like miniature black holes. "Well…"_

"_You can't possibly want to get Seifer to switch desks _that_ badly."_

"_Xu…"_

"_Because I'm over it."_

"_Xu…"_

"_It was horrifying true, but I had therapy and…"_

"_XU!"_

_Xu groans in exasperation and falls back on her bed. It was a symbol of the closeness between them that only in privacy did Xu allow herself to show the emotion she kept hidden from everyone else. "Come oooonnnn Quistis we hardly ever see you anymore. When was the last time we even went out together?"_

"_That's not fair Xu," she says. "I had to study." She can feel the reproach in her voice and wishes she could snatch it out. She grabs her workbag and the pair leave the twin dorm for their next class. For now at least they're still in the same advanced classes, before Quistis gets her first SeeD assignment. _SeeD!

_She skids to a halt suddenly as she rounds a corner too fast and almost runs into. "Headmaster!"_

_Cid blinks and looks down, taking his attention away from the woman walking next to him. She's panicked and distracted but not enough to fail to notice the woman isn't wearing much. "Cadet Xu, Cadet Tre- No wait. SeeD Trepe." The old man breaks out into a warm smile. "Congratulations again."_

_She salutes quickly and nervously. "Thankyousir." Her eyes dart over to the woman and finally she recognises the tall woman. "Lady Siren."_

"_Just Siren," the woman says. Her hair's so long it almost trails behind her and she has the urge to ask…_

"_Classes soon I believe? To work, to work!" Cid says with a grin, expertly derailing her train of thought. "I know you both won't us down."_

"_Nossir," she replies with Xu only a millisecond behind her. As the pair salute again Quistis looks through her hair at the mysterious Guardian Force. She looks pretty._

"_Don't forget, after class!" Xu says as the two prepare to enter the classroom. "We're going for that celebratory drink tonight."_

_Quistis bites her lip in indecision. "I'll…see if I have time."_

_Xu sighs. "Just feels like you're running so far ahead of us all. Be careful you don't trip up."_

"_Who, me? Never." she says as they walk in and she greets the teacher and eyes turn towards her, the youngest SeeD in Garden history (admittedly not that long a history, but still!). The uniform feels new and clean against her skin. It feels like a promise covering her, of a future she would never have dared dream of when she had arrived scared and alone. Tomorrow she's going to go up to Squall Leonhart and ask him if he wants to grab a meal some time._

_Maybe she'll wear her hair up._

* * *

Darkness covered her vision. A black view speckled with white dots as Selphie stared up into the night from the roof of the borrowed apartment. She'd sequestered Kiros and with only a minimum of effort had managed to bully/convince/persuade the man (she could never tell which) into finding an available _rooftop_ apartment. The hassle had been worth it though. It felt like she could swing her hand through the sky and grab a handful of stars.

"Hey there. Stargazing again?"

"It reminds me of home," she replied, her voice dreamy with remembrance. The snow of Trabia made sure the nights were never dark.

Irvine sat down next to her and crossed his legs and Zell did the same. "Thinking about going there?"

Selphie smiled slyly. "I've been talking with Odine. He's going to need pilots, and nobody can fly the _Ragnarok _like I can."

Zell shook his head in wonder. "You really shoot for the stars Sephy." They groaned. "Oh come on that wasn't such a bad joke."

"No, it was worse." Irvine looked out over the city. "What about you Zell?"

Zell grinned. "I'm working something out with Kiros and Ward. Just because we beat the big bad dudes up doesn't mean there's not a ton of monsters still out there just waiting to swoop down on us. Someone's gonna have to deal with that stuff while you guys are off exploring space."

"Maybe we'll just blow up the moon. No more Lunar Cries!" Selphie shot back, and Zell was pretty sure she was joking. Pretty sure.

"Why do you want to go out there so badly anyway?" he asked. "From what Rinoa says it's just an empty nothing up there and you'll die pretty fast if you put a step wrong." He paused for thought. "I mean SeeD training was bad but it wasn't _that_ bad."

Selphie sighed and when she spoke there was a melancholy in her voice they rarely heard coming from the bubbly young woman. "Quistis, actually." She looked up at the stars and smiled. "It was pretty funny really. When Squall and Rinoa were up on the _Ragnarok _together you know, and the rest of the space-station came back down in those escape pods?"

They remembered. The sky over Esthar's western shore had glowed with the freefalling pods that night, and boats had run to and from the shore picking up battered and shell-shocked Estharian civilians. "Yeah, and?"

"Well when we got her out I snuck into the infirmary and I asked her what it had been like up there."

"And?"

_I can't describe it Selphie. It's like there were no limits on the world, nothing tying you down to the earth. You looked outside a window and instead of sea or grass there was just…everything._

Zell looked up into the sky and shook his head in bemusement. "I can't even imagine it. I'll stick to the surface if it's all the same to you, you two can have all the fun up there in your airless void."

"Hey you know what they say Selphie," Irvine said. "You've gotta keep your feet on the ground if you want your head in the clouds."

* * *

_She leans against the wall and feels the breeze wash against her face as the tension flows out of her like water from a shattered dam. She glances back into the party. Zell is stuffing his face, whether out of genuine hunger or just some automatic response to someone putting a plate of hotdogs in front of him she doesn't know, and she doesn't really want to get too close to that particular tableaux anyway. Irvine is entertaining the star-struck young SeeD ladies who are listening to him recount his adventures, occasionally glancing around to find Selphie in the crowded ballroom as she flits about trying to film everything at once. Squall and Rinoa are nowhere to be found but she had seen them walk out of the party earlier and could make a pretty good guess. Everyone's joking and laughing and having a good time, but she can't shake the weight from her mind, she just can't. Xu's off on the Ragnarok doing God-knows-what and there's nobody left she can confide in._

"_Good job Trepe," an instructor nodded at her cordially as he passed by her. She resisted the urge to laugh in his face at the sheer normalcy. _Good job saving the world._ She settles for a quick "thank you sir" and starts walking for the nearest balcony. Suddenly the air in the huge ballroom feels still and hot and claustrophobic against her skin and she has to get _outside_, away from the mass of people she barely knows._

_She sinks to her knees in the cool ocean mist sent up at the balcony as a years-worth of tension flows out of her body and she gasps for clear air. She shivers and tries to pull her uniform's jacket over her but only succeeded in moving it around on her shoulders, and she puts her hands over her face and cries in halting sobs from sheer relief at being able to just _sit down_ and _relax_._

"_Are you alright?"_

_She turned to see piercing grey eyes staring at her from the balcony and she froze in shock. _Oh my God she saw. _"S- Siren?" She could hear the defensiveness in her voice and hated it. "I thought you would be…with the others." She realised as she spoke that she had fought side-by-side with the magical being for over a year and still knew very little about her. "It's just the stress. Just such a relief to stop worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow." She took a breath and calmed herself. She wasn't going to embarrass herself in front of the Guardian any further. "What about you?"_

"_Just taking in some air," Siren said, looking out over the ocean. "This peace seems so…unreal."_

"_Unreal must be something, coming from you," she replied before her brain could stop her mouth. _Idiot! Just be quiet! _"I'm sorry! I-"_

_Siren laughed. "No no it's fine. It's just," The Guardian woman sighed and her eyes took on a far-away look. "I never realised before now how beautiful it was out here."_

"_Out here…our world?" She got a nod as a reply. "You're always welcome to stay if you want you know."_

_Siren turned to face her and smiled. "Thank you Quistis."_

_She says the words before her brain can override her. "I can fill in if you wanted someone to junction with just to er…just to go around with."_

_Siren's smile goes from pleasant to radiant and she leans forward to hug Quistis. She's seen the Guardian do it before to others in the same way Shiva will nod regally at you and Ifrit will pick up and throw things around the room, but it's the first time it's ever been her on the receiving end. Her warmth is shocking against the cool night air and she gasps._

_Siren withdraws immediately and the cold closes in on her again. "Sorry. Nobody eve volunteered to- I mean not for anything but combat, I'm just-." Siren blushes and stares into her eyes as she smiles. "Thanks."_

_She stays outside as she watches the Guardian leave. The noise of the celebration suddenly becomes louder as the door swings open before closing again. She'll go back inside in a few minutes, after she gets her feelings in order. When the Guardian looked at her she was suddenly reminded of the feelings she had had all those years ago spying on Squall in the training room. Except this time the warmth she can feel inside her at the thought of Siren's eyes and smile has nothing to do with protectiveness._

* * *

"Still here huh?"

Siren looked around at the familiar voice. "Seifer."

"Rinoa told me you were still up here moping. It's almost sunrise. Were you going to come in at all or should we build a plinth we can carve something onto?"

The Guardian felt a stab of anger at the mocking tone in his voice. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Seifer threw back his head and laughed and the stab turned into a mauling. "Wouldn't want to," he said, holding her gaze as he walked past her and up to the railing. "At least you're not like Shiva, always moping and holding things back like letting other people see you gave a shit was a crime. She's like Squall used to be. And Quistis."

"Always used to be so damn uptight. On my tail about _something_, if it wasn't one thing or the other. Then she'd turn around and cover for me with those Garden bastards." He shook his head. "Could never decide whether she wanted me to stay in Garden or throw me out, even after I got onto the disciplinary committee. I know your memory-loss crap hit us all pretty bad but I kinda wonder if she knew we'd all been unwanted brats together in that damn stone house. I'm pretty sure she got me onto that one Dollet mission." He snorted. "What a twisted bitch."

"You _shut your mouth!"_

The _thud_ of Siren's fist hitting Seifer's palm was loud in the air as he caught her punch and held it there. "There, that's better. God, what is it about people who hang around with Squall that turns them into moping assholes." He raised his other hand and she felt something cold and metal slide into her palm as he held her fist in both hands. "You don't have to forget. Rinoa got that right at least, trust me I know about this kind of thing. You keep it with you, but first you stand up and walk past it and smile at it as you go. It's about making that memory follow you, not letting it be the one holding the reigns." He let go and stepped back. "Open it."

She looked down as her fist opened and she felt as sob force its way out of her mouth as she saw the golden tip of the Save the Queen nestled inside, wrapped delicately around a thin golden chain.

Seifer went on but his gaze was elsewhere now. Embarrassment maybe? No. She'd have sworn he was incapable. "Had Zell and Kiros help me out, they worked overnight to get it made so fast. Guy's got some stones for a bureaucrat."

She hung it around her neck and the cool metal against her skin made her single. "Thank you Seifer."

He shrugged. "So are you coming inside, or gonna mope some more?"

Siren looked out over the city, the first rays of light beginning to show themselves between the silver spires of Esthar. "I'll stay." She looked at him. "You're welcome to as well, if you want."

Seifer shrugged. "Nothing better to do right now."

And they watched the sun come up.

* * *

_There had been no bolt of lightning from above like she had imagined there would be. No sudden revelation or eyes meeting across a crowded room. Their eyes had met every day. That was all it had taken, in the end, like some inevitable meeting of hearts._

"_Heya," the melodic voice says from behind her, still half-asleep._

_She turns away from the snowfall outside the window of the cabin they were staying in. Out on the edges of some remote Trabian village they had discovered almost by accident as they had travelled they'd paid for a room from the wizened old man who had barely looked at the pair, just two more travellers passing through on their way to some place more alive than here. After the cities the anonymity is wonderful. Siren's looking at her from underneath the covers and she can see the contours of her body outlined there._

"_It's still night, come back to bed," Siren says and she can hear the promise in that wonderfully musical voice, but she turns away. "Still thinking about it?" She doesn't have to wait for a response. "You shouldn't." They have to start making the journey back soon, the new intake of SeeDs coming in for the year. More people to be trained and moulded and sent out and it will be her that does it. "They're your friends, no one will care."_

_She knows her lover is right but a part of her just can't let it go. The weak and trembling part of her rising up from the depths to tug her heart back and whisper _but what if but what will they think but but but_ into her ear. Finally below even that the horrible thought that maybe she's still not over him yet, even after everything that's happened. Two decades of prim and proper ladder-climbing first to SeeD and then instructor and then the constant attention of the world doesn't disassemble itself in months. But here in the remote mountains she's ready to start trying. She shrugs the woollen cloak from her shoulders and feels the winter air bite as she slips back into bed. "Sorry. Just habit," she says as the cold fades away as their bodies flow together and the warmth caresses her. "Just thinking about being put out there again, on some kind of pedestal." She would have relished the challenge only a year earlier, but things change. People change them, and she's tired of being alone on the outside looking in._

"_Worried you'll fall and trip up?" Siren asks with a smile as she leans into her._

"_Who, me?" she asks as she runs a hand down Siren's body and feels it writhe underneath her touch. It feels indescribably good. She wants this moment to go on for eternity._

"_Never."_


	34. I Do

"_And I can't change your mind?"_

"_What, you can't mean _you're_ happy with how-"_

"_It's over. It's _been_ over for over a month now. We have a country to put back together. I'm satisfied. You're not, obviously."_

"_No, no there are too many loose ends."_

"_Oh come on…"_

"_Not until I _know_. I read those reports. I don't think I entirely trust 'em."_

"_You'll miss the wedding."_

"_Hah! Somehow I don't think they'll mind."_

"_Well if you really-"_

"_I owe it to her, at least."_

"_Oh? Oh. _Oh. _Was there something there?"_

"_Might have been. Tell anyone I said that and I'll gut you."_

"_Excuse me."_

"_I-"_

"_Oh-"_

"_You too huh?"_

"_Well if I can't stop either of you…"_

"_It's a shame but-"_

"_Give our regards to the happy couple."_

_

* * *

_

"Stay _still_!" Selphie said through a mouthful of drawing pins.

Selphie's pleading tone only lead Rinoa to squirm more as she stood arms out like some genuflecting statue. Which at this point Selphie probably wished she was. "Is it done yet?" Rinoa asked. Her arms were getting tired and there didn't seem to be an end in sight. There was a full-length mirror in the room across from her and she'd been able to watch Selphie's progress.

"You look beautiful Rinoa. Are going to look beautiful, I mean. If you stay still long enough."

Rinoa risked Selphie's wrath and turned her head to see Almas leaning against the doorframe.

"Shut that!" Selphie shouted quickly.

Alma glanced behind her before walking into the room. "They're nowhere in sight Selphie." She looked back at the should-have-been-blushing bride that was currently fast on her way to being merely exasperated.

"I could really use another pair of hands here Almas," Selphie muttered as she pinned up something soft and frilly.

Rinoa and Almas exchanged a glance and a shrug. _You're trapped now. _"Where do you want me?"

Selphie grinned and wiped sweat from her eyes. "Hold this." She waited until Almas' finger was in place, and then pulled.

Rinoa squeaked in surprise as the dress seemed to collapse around itself. Layers that had hung to the ground retracted via some arcane fashion sorcery and suddenly Rinoa was wearing a very elegant and complex-looking white dress, rather than some kitsch nightmare of lace and frills. The effect to Almas' watching (and disbelieving) eyes hadn't been unlike some kind of jigsaw magically flying together.

Rinoa looked at herself in the mirror and risked a slight twirl. "I…wow."

Selphie beamed. "I had help." In fact I- "_HAH!"_ her hand whipped out and caught the little green ball of air before it could escape the room. "Got you, you little spy!"

Carbuncle writhed in her grasp but not too hard, or else he might _actually_ escape. "I just wanted to see!" he squeaked. The tiny green Guardian wasn't nearly so manic these days now that he was forced to junction to Rinoa. Trying to draw sustenance from Sorcery was like trying to eat puffer-fish, one too many bites in the wrong places and you were history. The tiny green creature wasn't taking any chances.

"And go tell Squall how pretty his bride looks I don't doubt! What do we do with him girls?"

Almas and Rinoa pretended to glare at the tiny creature. "We'd better make it something _horrible_," Almas whispered.

"Noooooooo!"

"Wait!" Sephie shouted in mock-horror.

"Siren would be upset if we did anything bad," Almas said.

Selphie sighed and released him. "Well, if you put it like that…"

"I won't tell anyone I _prooomise_," Carbuncle squeaked.

"You girls ready in there?" A voice called out.

"Y-"

Rinoa caught Selphie's mouth. Delicately she picked up a small necklace on the nearby table and dropped it over her head. The small lion pendant caught the light as she looked at it in the mirror. "_Now _I'm ready."

"Knock 'em dead Rinoa. Or give them minor concussion at least."

Rinoa grinned at her reflection. _I managed that already Sephy. I managed that already.  
_

* * *

"_YOU! But-"_

"_So this is where you were hiding it."_

"_How did you-"_

"_Of course I knew it all along you stupid man. You didn't think I'd just hand it over without keeping an eye on it?"_

"_How the hell did yo_-_ARRRRGH!"_

"_That's enough of that. You work for _me_ now. A little respect would be nice."_

"_Screw it. I'm a dead man anyway. What…what do you want?"_

"_Where are the stones?"_

"_You're joking, surely. Wait, _wait!_ One's in Dollet, the other's here. I know…I know where it is."_

"_And the last? You _know_ the one I mean."_

"_It…it's in Esthar. Odine has it, if he even figured out what it is now."_

"That_ won't be a problem at all."_

* * *

They watched the sea come in.

"So, this is it man," Zell said with a grin.

Irvine kept a close eye on Squall. He had done so all night at Selphie's request to keep any pre-ceremony jitters under check, she had said. The man didn't seem to be falling victim to them though. "Looking forward to it? Be nice for you two to finally make it official."

Squall smiled as he looked out over the ocean. "Yeah. Yeah I am." He stood and brushed sand down from his tuxedo. He looked back towards the pavilion. "A little quiet would have been nicer though."

"Sorry commander. The knowledge just seemed to leak out."

Squall looked down at Nida. "What about the knowledge about exactly when and where we were going to do it? And the dress code."

"That knowledge leaked out also," Nida replied, and his poker face was perfect.

SeeD was gone, broken up and disbanded, but the loyalty and training of those it had left behind formed a worldwide spider-web of men and women in every village and every town in the world as graduates and trainees formed together into their own small echoes of the organisation to do whatever good they could in the new world. Whether it was assisting in the reconstruction of Dollet's old buildings or keeping order in an uncertain and scared Deling City SeeD still lived on in deed if not in name. Squall had never tied Nida down to an answer but he would have bet all the money in his pockets that the young man still maintained unofficial command over all those distant and separated cells, and that if Squall asked for it Nida could reassemble those components into a true SeeD organisation in a second.

Squall looked up at the lights dancing around the village. He had asked for it to be a quiet ceremony, just some friends and family. Laguna had offered Esthar's palace. They had compromised on Balamb and all in all he couldn't complain. Boats had come and gone dropping off old friends and familiar faces and to his smiles at their arrival hadn't been forced.

_About time she finally tied you down,_ Laguna had whispered in is ear as he shook his hand on arrival. Either everyone was sharing the same joke book that or night or they were sharing the same thoughts. It wasn't a little embarrassing.

Irvine and Zell stood and lifted their glasses. "About time," the cowboy said with a cocky grin.

"About time," Zell echoed.

Squall felt a smile spread across his face. "Hey, screw you two. No wonder you're both still bachelors." As if either man seemed to mind. Selphie and Irvine's bond seemed to transcend the need for such mundane ceremonies, and Zell was quite content to wander the world alone.

Irvine drained his glass as Squall and Zell did the same. "Now this."

"What?" Squall asked.

"Old Galbadian tradition. Can't use the glasses for anything less important." Irvine tipped his glass back and threw it into the ocean. "And I can't think of anything more important than this." Two more slivers of crystal followed it into the sea.

"You did good Squall. Now, let's get you hitched."

* * *

"_Hey, _hey!_ Stay with me kid. Hey, can't you do anything?"_

"_No."_

"_Well _you're_ a lot of help on this- I said _hey!Don't _check out on me yet!_ _Who was it? Who did this to you?"_

"_What? What's he saying?"_

"_Oh you're kidding me."_

"_He…what was it?"_

"_He said the guy came in and took something they were guarding. Said it was some metal ball."_

"_Surely not…"_

"_I could repeat it if you're having trouble hearing. Would you like me to use smaller words?"_

"_Did he see _exactly _who took it?"_

"_Well you're going to like _that_ even less."_

SCENE BREAK

"I do."

"I do."

A cheer rang through the pavilion as Squall and Rinoa looked into each other's eyes.

"Feel better now?" Squall teased.

"I can still change my mind you know," Rinoa shot back, as she leaned forward and the two kissed. They ignored the cheers and clapping and some scattered wolf-whistles (Zell and some of the braver ex-SeeDs) and became lost in each other for longer seconds.

"Congratulations," Siren said softly as the two sat down at the table. She was dressed in something simple and white like she had back in Esthar, and looked stunning. "We were all waiting quite a long time."

"You guys aren't going to let that go are you?" Squall said with a sigh as he sat and his hand found Rinoa's.

"Nope," Zell said happily, already digging in.

"Whatever are we going to do with you all?" Rinoa sighed in contentment. It had been everything she had ever dreamed of. Her hand gripped Squall's. Sometimes, less and less often now, she would wake up at night clawing for his presence beside her to help her hide from the dreams. Nightmare shapes that she had never allowed into her mind during the war and the war before it had come back with a vengeance, horrible shapes and beings out of time. He would wake up as he felt her grip and hold her close. He was always there, and the urge to grab his hand and never let go was sometimes almost overpowering.

"Well you already took _that_ guy off our hands at least," Selphie said with a grin. "You can deal with him from now on."

Rinoa gripped Squall's hand tighter. "I'm sure I can rise to the challenge." She looked out across the pavilion. "Squall?"

"Yes?"

"Come dance with me." Without waiting for his reply she hauled him up and dragged him over to the dance floor. Irvine caught the conductor's eyes with some kind of innate skill for charm and nodded. The man nodded back and the band began to segue into a slow number as people made way for the bride and groom.

"Is it everything you expected?" Squall whispered into her ear as they swayed slowly together.

"Yes. It was perfect," Rinoa whispered back. "I knew ever since that first dance we'd end up here."

"Oh? Not when our eyes met?" Squall teased gently.

"Well it _did_ take me a while to catch your eyes, what with you permanently looking at the floor."

"They were dazzled," he said.

"You're a charmer," she replied.

"I learned from Irvine."

For a while they just danced in silence together as the rest of the party looked on. A perfect silence surrounded by an ocean of laughing and smiling.

"They look good together don't they?" Selphie said with a blessed-out grin. If anyone in the world had been looking forward to the wedding more than Squall and Rinoa themselves it was her. She felt Irvine put an arm around her.

"Tempted?" Siren said.

Selphie giggled. "Maybe."

"Alas, for my sins, she's married to Esthar already. She has a baby on the way and everything," Irvine said with a grin, and ducked to avoid Selphie's swing. "Kidding!"

"Bab- You mean it's really happening? We read about it over in Dollet but-" Almas began excitedly.

Selphie nodded happily and drew closer to the others. "Laguna finally signed off on it-"

"No little thanks to Sephy here," Irvine said proudly.

"-And Odine's gonna build it." She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "The _Midgard, _a ship to carry mankind to the stars and _stay_ there. It means 'the world'. We're going to ask every city in the world to bring something to put on it. A project for humanity."

"To the stars…" Siren said wonderingly.

"One of these days Siren. Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!" She leaned forward. "And what about you?"

Siren blushed as if Selphie had suggested something untoward. "Me? I…er…" She adjusted her shift. "Well, I'm not sure really. I've been helping Odine in Esthar's labs and-" She saw the looks on everyone's faces. "No, no! It's nothing dangerous. He just wants to know some things. He's still studying magic, and those tablets we left him, even if he says he can't stand anything mankind can't build on its own." She smiled softly. "He's quite nice to me really. Everyone is."

"And what does Shiva think about that?" Irvine asked, with more than a little questioning in his voice.

Siren shrugged. That wasn't a subject she dared dig too deep into. "Shiva's doing…other things."

"Well take care of yourself okay? She'll have us killed if anything happens to you in whatever spider-web Odine's building down there."

Siren nodded once. She had heard the unsaid words in his request: _Her and others. _"I'll be fine."

* * *

"_What are you going to do with it?"_

"_You don't really need to know that."_

"_I deserve more than this. I- what…hey, what are you doing! _HEY!"

"_There. That's quite enough."_

"_What…what the hell did you do m- AAAAAAAARGH!"_

"_There, just like that. Rot with your captive subject."_

"_Wait! You can't just leave me here like this!"_

"_Watch me."_

_

* * *

_

"And what now?" Laguna asked. He stared at Squall as he shook his glass around gently. The man was comfortably drunk. Kiros had waved off the invitation and Laguna had taken the opportunity to have _one_ day off.

Squall and Rinoa shrugged. The party was winding down. People had said their congratulations and goodbyes and began the long (and for some quite unsteady) walk down to the docks. "We have plans."

Rinoa nodded. "We're going to tour for a while. Pass through some places they're rebuilding between the…err…relaxation. Still lots of work to be done, we thought we could help out. You know, make sure people can see all the good we're doing now that Garden's gone and stuff. Raijin could probably use some help. Turn the resistance into something more useful now that it doesn't really have a purpose anymore."

Laguna coughed nervously and suddenly Squall felt the wind bite just a little bit further. "They're not the only ones who could use some help, as it turns out."

Squall sighed as Laguna drew a small piece of paper out of his jacket and handed it over. "Who's this?" A quick glance saw that Rinoa was also looking at the small slip and with much the same expression as him.

"Couple of army depots looted in the last few months, since the Esper War ended really."

"Thieves?" The Galbadian Regular Army had smashed itself apart against the twin Gardens in the final night of the war. Those who had survived and escaped had been reduced to hoping for forgiveness of the new regime, or turning to crime to survive as soldiers without a nation. The blue-and-silver Galbadian uniform had been tarnished by more than blood recently. Stories drifted out of the countryside of desperate men and women reduced to scrounging and stealing from anyone or anything they passed.

Laguna nodded. "Unfortunately one of them was a laboratory used by…well…some old friends of ours. They were keeping something there and we'd really like it back."

Squall raised a hand. "Laguna I appreciate the trust you're showing in us, but not to put too fine a point on it I just got married, maybe you've met the bride, and we were hoping for-"

Laguna's serious expression faded into a grin. "The good duchess and I can throw some compensation your way of course."

"I don't really think we need compens-"

"Esthar is always willing to accommodate its heroes. And of course Esthar _is_ much larger these days than it used to be, so it speak. Quite a drain on the wallet, touring the world on your salary. Ex-salary."

Squall sighed. The man was indefatigable. "You know I don't think you're allowed to bribe people like this." He folded the paper inside his tux where he could feel it brushing against his chest. One more obligation. He had (rather naively he had to admit) hoped that with the dissolution of SeeD he would become somewhat of a free agent. Small hope.

"You'll have some help. I have my own guys over there now. If you swing by that way though-"

"Mr President you liar, you knew we were going to Deling anyway," Rinoa said with her voice somewhere between admiration and indignation.

Laguna shrugged and turned to walk back up the hill towards the lights. "You need to do something to stave the boredom off, Mrs Leonhart." The pair watched the man walk up the chilly steps to the remnants of the party.

"So where first?" Squall asked whimsically.

"Well, I'm sure Duchess Nuo wouldn't mind a visit from her old boss, after that there's some building we could-" he stopped as Rinoa laughed.

"You workaholic! You know what I meant."

Squall shrugged. He looked out over the ocean and took a deep breath of the salty sea air. "I want to go back to everywhere," he said wistfully. "I want to go around and make sure everyone's alright."

"Your problem," Rinoa began quietly but not unkindly, "is that you want to take care of the world."

"Is that so bad?"

Rinoa shook her head. "No. As it so happens I know a place that needs some _special_ care taken to it."

It only took him a moment. "Timber." He stopped in thought. "I think it's perfect."

"To Timber, then. It'll be like going home." Rinoa looked at her husband. "He was right you know," Rinoa said as she stared up at him.

"Who?"

"Laguna."

Squall sighed. "That's the problem with Laguna; when you get right down to it he usually _is_. About what specifically?"

"_Mrs_ Leonhart," Rinoa said with a smile.

They smiled at each other. "It does have a nice ring to it," Squall said wistfully. The two stared off into the ocean. As the two embraced under the moonlight they both had the same thought; Laguna's intrigues could wait. For now nothing more mattered than each other.

The world could wait.


	35. Creeping Phantoms

The lights of Deling City lit up the plains beneath them like fireflies come out at night to feast. Except now the harsh yellow light of Galbadia's gas-lamps was mixed in with the blue arcs of Esthar's electric poles. Long blue rods shot up from street-level into the night, surrounded by the ghost-lit figures of Estharian crews hauling stone and timber in the dead of night as Laguna's reconstruction crews worked tirelessly to rebuild the city smashed by guerrilla fighting. The streets of Deling City put Rinoa in mind of the Christmas flower arrangements she had seen as a child, dull and shapeless on the tree until a random passing streetcar went by the house and for a moment the collection of glitter and shiny paper would glow from within from the outside illumination, for just a moment becoming a glowing marvel in the bleak mansion of her youth. Then the car would pass and the bouquet would go back to its dark self, just waiting for the next source of light to wander by and make it shine again.

She leaned back in the car and sighed as Squall piloted it carefully over the hillocks towards the city. After two weeks of travelling she was ready to finally just _stop_, if only for a few days. From Dollet where they had stayed in Li's cliff-top palace and watched fishermen set out at daybreak to catch their dinner and Squall and Li had talked statesmanship into the night (mostly Squall had listened. Li had sucked up knowledge from her late father like a vacuum), across to Timber where she had been hailed as a returning princess and it seemed the entire town had turned out to welcome their train. Watts and Zone had been waiting for her there and she had barely gotten a moment together with Squall as they had shown her around.

_Go and have fun_, he had said as she had been spirited away, and that had practically been the last she had seen of him as her ex-subordinates had led her back around her old adoptive town and the hustle of Esthar-funded reconstruction. From Timber passing through Winhill to visit Ellone, the small town being practically unchanged. Squall had come back from a long night with an expression of shock Rinoa had never seen before. She had asked Ellone the next day but the woman had gently but firmly shaken her head and refused to share more. _It's his own choice Rin._

Finally they had taken their leave in the borrowed Dollet car, and the endless fields of corn and Winhill farmlands filled with flowers had gradually given way to the gently sloping plains of Galbadia. Rinoa had felt a pang of guilt as Deling Citydrew closer at the thought of returning to a place she had helped bring down but Squall had pushed them aside gently. When the last night came and they finally spotted the city on the horizon there was a mutual sigh of contentment and finality. This stop in their journey would be a catharsis of sorts. To see what help they could offer. Not that they couldn't find time for a little relaxation as well.

The checkpoint came up on them in the dark as a thin red line in the darkness. Squall drew the car to a halt and sighed. "Hoped they'd have taken these things down." He watched pensively as a shadow-shrouded form approached in the night. The Estharian soldier saluted as the window rolled down, and Squall noticed the man had swapped the usual shining white of the Estharian armed forces for a more muted blue-and-silver pattern. Galbadian colours looked strange on the high-tech armour. "Think it'll help keep things quiet?" he asked.

The man had nodded back as he signalled for the gate to rise. "Just trying to keep things as familiar as possible for the populace while we work out a permanent solution sir," he had replied. "Have a _safe_ visit."

"Laguna thought of everything," Rinoa said sleepily. Even with Esthar unfolding its technological arms to embrace the world it would still be many years before humanity was fully joined together. The world was still a big, dark place and there was no rail-link between Deling and Winhill besides simple dirt roads. Days of fitful sleep secure in the car-slash-offroader had not made for many comfortable nights. She'd gladly have killed for a real bed.

She climbed out and stretched. The cold air stuck like daggers into her throat, and something else that made her feel like coughing. She closed her mouth again quickly. "Gas leak?"

Squall shrugged as they walked up to the hotel. "Laguna swore he'd have Deling City looking like its old self as fast as he could." He looked over his shoulder. Blue poles denoting Estharian building equipment and activity were scattered over the night. He could see three of them just by looking down the long promenade. Reconstruction was going _fast._ "He really wasn't kidding."

They checked in without worry. From inside it was easy to believe that nothing had changed, with the exception of a group of maids pointing and giggling at the pair from across the room. "Admirers?" Rinoa had teased him. In reply Squall had given a small wave back and one of the girls had blushed deeply before practically running away. Rinoa collapsed on the bed first and stared up at the ceiling. "I could sink into this thing and never get up," she sighed happily. Squall landed next to her, bobbing her up and down on the mattress like a turbulent sea. "What's that? Too tired to fight back?" The silence lasted several seconds until Rinoa turned over to tug at Squall, but her hand stopped as she realised he was already fast asleep.

Squall lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He wished he could sleep as easily. Ever since the Esper War he had been plagued by dreams. He would wake up in cold sweats and in his memory he could eyes staring at him in the dark, and a low pounding noise like artillery in the distance. He'd considered going to Kadowaki but didn't want Rinoa to think anything was wrong. They'd go away on their own, when he had a little more distance from the whole bloody mess.

Let her sleep.

* * *

Squall rubbed sleep out of his eyes as they walked the central street, Rinoa on one arm and feeling utterly content as they approached the stand. Well, not utterly content. The little slip of paper in his pocket that Laguna had handed to him on that night two weeks ago no longer felt like a weight tied to his happiness, but it was still there, and Rinoa knew he couldn't possibly ignore it. After two days of walking the city and talking and making plans for the future, the day on the note had finally come. So they went.

They looked up at the speaker, a grizzled Estharian soldier who looked as though he hated every second of it, was taking questions from the small crowd.

"No, ma'am," Charl said, and Squall and Rinoa's ears instantly picked up the unsaid sentence underneath it. _I have answered this question already, stop asking it._ "We plan to hand over all security and police _as soon as _we can guarantee that…er…that they can best look after your wellbeing." He sighed.

"Poor man," Rinoa muttered as they watched the old soldier field questions from the populace. They'd passed similar displays since their arrival; obviously Estharian citizens and soldiers taking questions and requests from the Galbadian populace. It seemed to be having an effect, no Esthar peacekeepers were having rocks thrown at them. But Squall secretly thought Laguna was nuts if he imagined there wouldn't be some outrage and simmering tempers.

"Hey."

Squall jumped as the voice sounded quietly from just behind his ear, and had to stop himself from spinning around ready to strike. He settled for merely flinching like he'd just been stabbed as he turned to see… "Fujin."

Fujin smiled softly. "Mr and Mrs Leonhart. Congratulations." Squall had to listen carefully to catch her words over the murmur of the crowd. Whatever accident the young woman had suffered before joining Garden had left her voice a ruin, reduced to barking monosyllabic commands or whispery speech that was barely heard. It touched him that she had taken the effort to tell him that.

"Thank you Fujin," Rinoa replied with a smile of her own. She clearly had the same thoughts.

"We're meeting you here?" Squall asked with one eye on Charl and his crowd. It was impossible to judge the mood of the city from one meeting but if the extent of the hostility towards the 'invading' force was only some ornery pensioners then Laguna couldn't have been so far off the mark.

"Yes, come." Fujin motioned them away and they followed her across the unfamiliar streets. Rinoa tried to stay quiet at first but eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she tried to tease out as much as she dared with yes/no question.

"What's this big problem Laguna wants to help fix? Something to do with the looters?" she asked.

Fujin shook her head. Everything about the woman except her fighting was subdued. "To be seen. A symbol; 'no hard feelings'. To let everyone get on with their lives." It was the most Squall had ever heard the woman speak at once. It clearly mattered to her. She coughed. "And another thing. Raijin and Charl will explain more."

Squall shrugged as he scanned the streets. He could catch quick glimpses blackened masonry between alleyways, souvenirs of fire-fights between the Resistance and the Galbadian Army. Most of Galbadia had been spared the destruction the Espers had visited to other city-states. Dollet was looking at half a decade of rebuilding and abortive rebellions had taken their own toll of stupidity as Galbadians had destroyed the very towns they were in to try and stamp them out. Esthar had lost coastal outposts and the men and women in them. Squall thought it wasn't a little unfair that the seat of so much misery was still relatively pristine.

"Here." Fujin said simply.

Squall looked up at the building she had led them to, and laughed. _Of course, where else._ He let Fujin lead him and Rinoa into the Deling Mansion and waited patiently, ignoring the stares as people went to and fro. Finally the door swung open and Raijin emerged.

"Squall! Good to see you y'know! Heard about the happy occasion!" He winked (in what he probably thought was) conspiratorially at Squall. Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Come on back here."

They walked into what had been the main dining room but looked at first glance like someone was re-decorating an insane asylum's cell. White paper covered the walls and the table and most of the floor. Blueprints and checklists and plans were adjusted and ticked off as they watched by harried-looking members of the Resistance, now the make-do Rebuilding Committee. The pair could do little but listen as Raijin waved his hands around, narrowly missing several other people and talking about fixing it up, just as it had been.

Squall shook a hand in front of himself as if to ward off the deluge of information. "Raijin not that it's not amazing what you're doing here, but we got the impression from Laguna that something more…ah…malicious? Was taking place."

Raijin stopped and nodded solemnly. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, just a little pumped. Exciting times and all that y'know." He waved at a map that had centre-place on one of the walls. Like the others it was a map of Deling City. _Unlike_ the others it wasn't covered in any scribbling, apart from red dots placed around the map. Squall recognised the style from innumerable SeeD briefings: Here's What Got Blown Up. "We've got looters obviously, lotta angry people out there y'know? Some cocktails thrown at windows but mainly just rocks. _But_ there's been a couple we couldn't really explain."

"Explain how?"

"Well, depots have been hit, not entirely sure how. Lotta scorch marks and stuff."

He frowned. "Para-magic users?" _That can't be._

Fujin shook her head. "Everyone capable of using para-magic was conscripted by the Galbadian Army. Everyone conscripted was onboard Galbadia Garden when it attacked Balamb Garden." She didn't have to say anymore.

Rinoa nodded. "They all got caught in the magikiller vortex."

Raijin nodded emphatically. "Ex_actly_. Deling doesn't have a magic finger to wave around y'know."

"You can't be thinking Esthar would…" Squall began, but Raijin waved him off.

"No. We've been knockin' our heads together but we can't think of who could be doin' it, y'know?"

"I have an idea." All heads turned as Seifer entered the room. "Oh. Well done by the way." He gave a mock salute to Squall and a slight bow to Rinoa. "Please tell me you're not calling yourself Heartilly-Leonhart. That's just a little too much for me to say too often."

"It's just plain Mrs Leonhart, Seifer," Rinoa said with only a touch, Squall thought, of malicious glee.

"Well, anyway. Important things." Seifer ignored the death-glare Squall shot at him and turned to the wall. "It's not as random as it looks. Most of the depots getting attacked were used for other things as well as ammo storage." He pointed out a red dot on the edge of the map. "Para-magic research." Another, closer to the centre of the city. "Biological weapons research."

Rinoa frowned. "You mean monsters?"

Seifer shrugged. "Who knows?" He pointed to another. "This one is special. _This_ one had something I think you guys at SeeD should be pretty worried about. Whoops. ex-SeeD. Anyway you know what I mean." He waved off Squall's question. "It was a lab, and Esthar was in it at the time it got hit." He reached into his coat and drew out a spread of paper, which he clipped to the wall. They were photographs of carnage. "This one they went through like a hurricane. Like the others had only been sorties and this time they were _serious_. They finally knew they had the right one and they didn't care about staying under-cover anymore."

"What did they take?" Rinoa asked. "That's what you're getting at, isn't it?"

"They took one of Odine's little death-orb things."

Squall sighed. _He'd kill you if he heard you call it that._ Then the thought was rushed out of his head to be replaced by another, much more insistent and worrying, as he realised what Seifer had said. "They were keeping one of the magikiller spheres here?"

"I just said that yes. And now we don't know where it is."

Squall sighed and glanced at Rinoa. _Do we really have to? _Her look back at him contained everything she didn't have to say:

_But of course we must._

* * *

The wreckage of the depot was chilling. The bodies had been cleaned away and most of the bigger wreckage had been removed but the absence of the detritus showed up in Squall's mind like bright red markers. Here a smeared bloodstain where a man had been dragged away by nauseous civilians. Over here a square box of untouched ground surrounded by black ash where something large and metallic had been towed away from the area of the explosion that had ruined it. Two large double-doors that led inward and downward to the complex-proper were just gone entirely, melted from the hinges.

"They were smashed from the inside," Seifer said conversationally as the trio faced the damage. Nervous passers-by stole quick glances into the razorwire-enclosed area before hurrying quickly on. "Like they just burst open from some kind of pressure."

Rinoa ran a hand over the wall as they descended. "No explosive did this," she whispered. Seifer a shot a glance at her and she stared back. "The Timber Owls used explosives for some operations against Galbadian buildings. I won't deny it."

"Hey, you got my blessing," Seifer muttered as the stairs finally ran out and they descended into a room that resembled nothing more than a large cavern. "It's over here," Seifer said, and the echoes bounced around for long seconds before fading.

"What did this?" Squall wondered aloud.

Seifer stayed quiet.

* * *

They reached the final level after what felt like minutes of walking. Estharian troops hailed and let them pass as they walked down, all looking faintly sheepish.

"They should be," Seifer said with a spit. "They were supposed to be guarding this place and they lost the damn thing."

The lab walls and floor were scorched black where whatever had attacked had swept over them, but there was something else. Papers lay on tables as if glued there, and moss was growing freely on the walls where metal sheeting had rusted away to reveal the bored-out stone beyond it. The three walked onwards, Rinoa peering in through windows at empty lab-tables, doors with double- and triple-sealed frames. "What were they doing down here?" she asked.

"Galbadians were using it for something, we don't know what, it was empty when Esthar got here," Seifer said. "I came later. Couldn't figure it out."

"You thought you had a better chance?" Squall asked. "With all your noted and famous technical and research experience?"

"Yes," Seifer replied.

"Boys, stay civil now," Rinoa said in a stern tone as they passed another shattered window. The damage got worse as they walked. Finally they came to the last door. A damp wind swept out from the other side and metal sheeting gave way abruptly to wet moss-covered stone. "What's through here?" she asked.

"Whatever it was came up from here." Seifer tapped the stone and it echoed wetly. "It opens up onto, among other places, a network of caverns, other Galbadian military establishments, a series of barely-navigable tunnels out of the cities and," he finished with relish, "the sewers."

Squall's mind instantly jumped back to the day (_has it really been three months?_ he marvelled) when they had fought through Deling City's presidential palace against Melanthios and his Espers. The deluge of water summoned forth by the dying Famfrit had swept a torrent down into these tunnels. _Down through all these labs._ "Whatever was in here would have been drowned like rats," he whispered with not a little trepidation. It must have been a horrible way to die.

Seifer coughed. "Not that I really care that much but I can't say it's something I'd have wished on them."

Squall turned to the man and shrugged. "So why bring us here? You can't possibly think we can make any difference to-"

"Not you Leonhart. More your lovely wife."

Squall's defences went up instantly and his mind whirred as he tried to figure out what the blonde was talking about. "Seifer…"

Seifer's expression was grim as he turned back to Squall. "Something came up through here Leonhart. It came up from below; it killed everyone it passed using something we can't explain. It took what it wanted and nothing – and I really do mean nothing – else was taken, and it smashed its way up and out through several levels of Esthar security."

"It killed them _all_?" Rinoa asked as Seifer finished.

"Things. You said some _things."_ Squall said as the words went through him. "Not men. Something not human killed them all?"

Seifer shook his head. "All but one."

"What did the survivor say?" Squall said, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

"He only lived because he played dead under the bodies."

"What did he _say_?" Squall said through gritted teeth as he rapidly lost his patience with his old rival.

The answer was worse than anything he could have imagined.

"He said a woman in blue came up and destroyed the labs and killed them all."

Silence ruled the labs for a single moment, and then: "No…" Rinoa said, barely audible.

Seifer made sure he caught Squall's eye before he went on. "Guardians did this."

"You're wrong," Squall said.

"These walls and doors were cracked open from the inside, like something got into the metal and forced it apart. The other side of that door was lousy with mist and dew. Water expands when it turns into ice."

"You're _lying!"_

"Shiva came with me to Deling, Squall. And I don't know where she is now."

"I won't believe it," Squall repeated, as if repetition would magically make it so some other force had broken open the laboratory from below and rose up to kill.

Seifer sighed in exasperation. "I'd get over that fast if I were you Squall. Because we're not done here yet." He gestured upwards. "There have been other attacks on the city, other depots. I told you that, I just didn't say who by, asked Raijin not to tell you. _This_ depot was taken down by Shiva and I'd bet money on it _commander_. The others were by people, but they weren't real people." He forged onwards. "Soldiers; SeeDs _and_ Galbadians, but no-one ever sees the faces. You're going to say-"

"It's _night time_ Seifer, how could people see anything in the dark, especially in combat!" Squall argued hotly.

"-But I think it's because they don't have any. Remember that day in Deling City? The palace? I do."

"Seifer," Squall began, but the man cut him off.

"I read the reports you all made. Almas couldn't tell us where Melanthios' body went. People here are scared and it's not because of the Estharian soldiers up there. They're putting up lights everywhere they go." He grabbed Squall around the shoulders. "People are _scared of the dark,_ Commander."

All the dots suddenly joined together. "You think Melanthios didn't die. You think he ran from Garden and he's still alive and he's down there in the sewers, or under them. And you want Rinoa's Sorcery to kill him. That's why Laguna told you to come here and why he asked _us_ after you told him all this." _I'm going to fucking kill him._

"You think he's enslaved Shiva," Rinoa said in dawning horror. And anger.

Seifer nodded, but there was no pleasure in his victory. "I think he's got Shiva on a leash somehow. And you're all we have princess." He tapped his watch. "Night's falling. That's when the attacks happen. Every time."

Squall opened his mouth to open, but Rinoa's hand over it prevented him as she nodded once at Seifer.

"Then let's get to work."

* * *

He heard them above as vibrations in the air, heavy footfalls that echoed through the cavern downwards through the endless rock and into his new domain.

_Come then._

_Let's end this._

_Please._


	36. The Steel Remains

_He winced as he lifted his head from the cold metal surface. A low dull noise thumped inside his skull like a jackhammer on concrete and he shook his head to try to clear it, to no avail. Something bright and hot glowed across one side of his skin and he risked a glance to see a white squareon the wall that blazed light at him. His hands slid across the surface his upper body was laid across and he could feel patterns on the metal surface under his fingers. Gently he raised his head over the merciless headache in his skull and saw it for what it was; a table out of some mad sculptor's nightmare, covered in intricate carvings and lines. Somewhere behind him he could hear a person crying softly, like they didn't want anyone to hear but were too distraught to contain their grief._

_Was he in a diner? Some experimental new café in Deling? No. It felt wrong. The ground was undulating up and down softly, almost rocking him to sleep again with its gentle motion. He rubbed his eyes to try and clear them and slowly more detail came into focus, not least directly across from him another white square, and in front of it another table with facing seats carved out of the walls. Realisation finally dawned through the fog of not-quite-gone unconsciousness. _I'm on a train? _"Wha…"_

"_Awake at last Squall?"_

_He looked up as his mind returned to some semblance of normality to see the figure sitting across from him. Like a patchwork man the figure shifted and changed as he watched, like trying to see a person through a frosted-glass window. One hand stirred a cup of something while he/she/it looked across the table at him. Something roiled inside his stomach as his vision returned but his questioner refused to come into focus, remaining a blurry shape sat in front of him. "What the-" he said quietly._

_A ghost of what might have been a smile flitted across the blurry figure. "Hey." The figure lifted the cup to the place where it's lips should have been and as it did so Squall saw the cup shift and lose focus, like passing into a field which disguised all detail. The shadows thrown off inside the train were weird or the light was in a different place than he thought it was because try as he might nothing even resembling eyes was visible. It troubled him more than he would have liked to admit._

_He sighed. "Tell me this isn't Ellone messing around again or crap like that." The light coming from the square was blinding. "Turn that damn light off."_

"_There's nothing to turn off. Take a closer look," the voice replied calmly. It sounded like nothing at all._

_Squall raised a hand against the glare and turned to examine the bright light. As his eyes adjusted the light was swept away to reveal a landscape made of glass. Something resembling white sand flowed away as the train travelled on to its destination. Hills covered in clumps of tall grass waved softly in the wind. Trees made of some faintly translucent and glowing material surrounding a pool of water so blue it looked like painted ice flowed past as he watched. Dim shapes that could have been refractions of the light from that blinding sun or could have been shadowy animals stalked the landscape. The stars above glowed and moved (_moved?)_ as he watched, light washing across the landscape._

"_We're in the desert," he/she/it said calmly as they sipped on whatever was in the cup. "It's not actually a desert of course but it will make a decent stand-in for now. We're coming close to the Edge."_

"_I don't understand," Squall whispered. "What are you-" His next question was cut off as the light dimmed suddenly. The woman across from him turned away from the window with a grimace as the white landscape suddenly tore in ragged black strips and gave way to a flat and featureless plain of nothing._

"_Where are we? What happened here?" _

"_Containment," came the one-word reply._

"_Containment of what?" he asked as the white desert vanished behind them and the view turned to nothing but black ground outlining a clear star-studded sky._

"_Me."_

_He could still hear the other occupant of the train behind him weeping softly. The sound stirred in his memory, a voice whose owner's name was just out of reach. "Who is that?"_

"_Someone who needs help," the reply from the nameless shapeless figure came._

_Squall put a hand on the ornate carved surface and tried to stand as his SeeD training pushed and shoved its way past his confusion to the front of his mind. "Then I should-"_

"_Not here."Another ghost of a smile. Squall had no idea why he was so sure the figure was smiling. "I know you want to help, that's one of the things we always liked about you Squall. But you can't help her from here." A waved hand outside the window as the black nothing (presumably) flowed on. It was impossible to discern motion anymore. "You're not here in the way I need you to be."_

"_Where's this train going?" Squall asked suddenly, the question forcing itself up and past his concern for the unnamed out-of-sight mourner, or the spectre of his dead sister talking with him calmly, or the dream-landscape that they had passed through._

"_To the end of time and space." It dropped the spoon in the teacup and the noise seemed to echo through the train. "Unfortunately we don't have the time to explain further right now. We'll talk again, before the end. Now though you'd better wake up or Seifer might do some serious damage."_

"_Seifer? What does he have to do with-"_

* * *

"_-_UP!_"_

Squall's hand came up before the blow connected and he caught Seifer's palm as it descended towards his face.

He knew he was awake when his vision came back with enough speed that he caught Seifer exhaling in relief. "I'm back." He felt something soft behind him and put a hand against the wall to hoist himself up, only for his hand to grab something slippery and slide off. "The caves."

"The caves," Seifer said as he stood and brushed moss from his jacket. "Quite a knock you took there. Thought we'd have to leave you behind. No such luck."

Squall rose up from the cold ground and checked himself. "What, you wouldn't have carried me to safety like a good SeeD comrade?"

"Not me. _She_ might have, though," Seifer said with a nod past Squall.

Squall turned in time to catch Rinoa blushing and smiled. "What happened?"

"The ground was awkward and you were-"

"You tripped and fell and hit your head," Seifer said with a grin.

Memory flowed back as he recovered his sense. _Of course. _

They had descended into the cave system underneath Deling City's military labs with not a little trepidation, searching for whatever was rising up out of the shadows, killing and stealing as it went, and for the missing Shiva. Seifer had led them confidently through the underground system. It was clearly a heavily-trafficked route; moss had been flattened underfoot and formed into green mats where heavy boots and machinery had been dragged through the bigger corridors. Gas-lines leading to rows of flickering and spluttering torches lined some others. Everywhere there was the dull stink in their noses of a place submerged in filthy water too long and then suddenly drained, and sometimes worse as they stumbled across bodies that had been swept out of the labs as Famfrit's deluge had rose and caught and carried them down into the depths. Light bounced across the slime-covered walls and threw treacherous shadows everywhere. It was reacting to one of them that Squall had been the one to finally put a step wrong and his feet had slid out from under him.

_God, how embarrassing._

"You alright?" Rinoa asked quietly.

Some of the cold seemed to dissipate with her concern. "Just a scratch," he replied. He looked around at the cavern they were in. "Where are we?"

"We're pretty far down," Seifer said. His eyes didn't leave the blackness ahead of them. "We dragged your ass into here until you could wake up, and you did, so we need to leave."

The urgency in his voice surprised Squall and after a second's thought he knew why. "We're not alone." Suddenly the walls of the cavern seemed to move in a little closer and the staccato drips of water from the ceiling to the puddles below sounded a little louder. "Something's down here with us." He felt for Rinoa's hands and grabbed it.

"We've been followed since we got down here," Seifer said quietly. "It's just trailing us for now. We're getting closer to _something_ down here."

"What?" Rinoa asked, nearly whispering.

Squall shook the last of the cobwebs out of his head. "Let's go find out."

* * *

"So this is where you were all this time?"

Seifer didn't look around as Rinoa asked the question, focussed on keeping his footing in the dank caves as they went onwards and downwards. Rusted metal stairs and handholds made the going easier in some places but the Galbadians had never valued comfort over function, and they were all beginning to feel the strain. The only light at the end of the tunnel was that there seemed to be _more_ signs of human habitation as they went down, not less. "More or less. Esthar needed boots on the ground and there's no boots that can walk farther than mine."

"Laguna's lapdog." The words escaped Squall's lips before his brain could haul them in and he cursed himself for being such a fool. The air turned even colder for a second and Rinoa tensed, ready to break up any argument either of them might press.

There was a long pause before Seifer spoke. "You might say that."

"Seifer I…" Squall began.

"No, forget it. Long day for everyone," Seifer cut him off with a wave as he clambered over the filthy rocks. There was a stench in the air as they went down further that at first tickled and then outright assaulted the senses. Debris from the surface littered the floors, as well as…other things.

"So this is where the sewers drain down to?" Rinoa asked, her voice muffled and made faintly ridiculous by the hand she was punching her nostrils shut with.

"Yes," they replied in unison. Seifer talked over Squall, who shrugged his shoulders and bowed to the man's superior knowledge. "Deling City's sewer system is great but the city's built on plains, miles from the ocean. It never really expected to have to deal with flash floods, not to put too fine a point on it." He gestured around. "Water never would have made it down this far unless…"

"Unless we suddenly _caused_ a flash flood in the city," Rinoa finished, thinking back to the battle against Famfrit and Melanthios. _Her fault. _"How far down are we anyway?" she asked quietly.

"About three hundred metres probably. These caverns would have been bone-dry any other time, perfect to hide anything Caraway didn't trust the populace to know about." He gestured ahead of himself as if revealing a clever magician's trick. "Ta-da."

The cavern ahead suddenly stopped. Squall was about to ask what Seifer was looking so smug about when-

"Can we get through?" Rinoa asked.

The dead-end ahead was a wall, so covered with rust, moss and slime that it was almost indistinguishable from the stone around it. Only certain mirrored strips of moss eating away at the metal beneath revealed there was a door at all. A _big_ door. Squall was about to reach out and touch it when a sound in the darkness behind caused him to look around to see what Seifer was up to, just in time to see the shadows move in a way they shouldn't.

Seifer was faster than Rinoa. He caught the widening of Squall's eyes before Squall had even opened his mouth to shout a warning and was already turning to meet the threat, hand reaching over his shoulder for his holstered gunblade. He was surprised then when there was nothing there. He looked back. "Getting jumpy? Are you _sure_ that knock you took didn't shake something loose?"

"No. I- no," Squall said. _I could have swore…_

"We're all jumpy," Rinoa said. As if to back up her words one of the lamps on the walls sputtered and finally died, and the claustrophobic cavern became a little more claustrophobic. "We need to go on," she said firmly. "We have a friend in danger somewhere." She took a deep breath and faced the door. "Stand back."

Squall was already moving behind her as he opened his mouth to ask what she intended when suddenly the cavern lit up with an inhumanely bright light that bounced from the slimy and extremely reflective walls and stabbed into his eyeballs. He heard Seifer shout out in a similar pain as he threw an arm over his eyes.

When the light faded he lowered it and blinked stars out of his eyes to see Rinoa stood panting heavily, in front of a now much less claustrophobia and now _extremely_ opened door. Where the metal hadn't bent inward under the force it had simply shattered, and pieces of it decorated the cavern and the room beyond. A room painted all white.

_Jackpot._

"We're in," Rinoa said with a smile.

Seifer shook his head. "Princess I…"

They all felt it, and with some instinct born of the same training they had all had they leapt past the ruined steel and into the pristine chamber beyond a mere second before suddenly the floor of the cavern solidified and lost all friction, and a wall of ice rose up from the slippery surface to seal the breach.

Squall gave an inward sigh of relief as finally his boots landed on something they could grip and turned to face the enemy as a deep layer of dread began to form. A shape moved on the other side of the thick icy wall that now trapped them inside the dungeon, barely visible through the inches-thick barrier. The outline was one he recognised instantly though.

Rinoa was the first to speak. "Shiva? _Shiva!"_ She raced up to the wall to get closer and yelled out in pain and surprise when she touched the wall. Her hands came away and she massaged them quickly with a hiss, a thin layer of ice had already formed on them where her skin had made contact with the ice-barrier.

"She's not screwing around," Seifer muttered as he watched the shadow of the Guardian move back and forth beyond the wall. "Hey! Your brain still in there you icy idiot?" The figure didn't reply.

"This isn't right," Squall said quietly as he watched the woman move. He glanced around the room. Steel cabling snaked underfoot and panels hid the cavern walls. Like the labs above this place had been carved from solid rock. But unlike the ruined military facilities there was the hum of electricty in the air. "There's power down here." He approached the ice wall and touched it with a gloved hand. Even through the leather he could feel the cold try to suck out the moisture from his clothes and shivered. "Shiva?" he asked softly. "Are you in there somewhere?"

There was no reply. Only a dark-blue figure pacing back and forth on the other side of the wall.

_You poor woman,_ Squall thought. _Like a puppet on a string. You deserve better._ "We're going to get you help Shiva." He said calmly. "I promise."

Seifer didn't take his eyes from Shiva's shadow as he backed away from the ice wall. "There has to be another way out of here. Whatever this place was." He looked around at the still-working machinery on the walls and floor. For all the world it looked like everyone had just stepped out to take a break. "Whatever this place _is_."

* * *

They walked for what seemed like hours through the twisting corridors, weapons in hand, the memory of Shiva's abortive assault still at the forefront of their minds.

_We have to help her._ Rinoa had been the first to speak up as they had gathered their wits and made their way inside the hidden labs.

_We have to help ourselves first,_ Seifer had replied. _Would you trust anyone to find us, in all those twisty goddamn caves? Would you expect them to get past a mind-controlled Guardian?_

To that the young woman had had no reply. The rest of the journey had passed in silence as they walked through the deserted labs and beheld horrors.

Medical beds surrounded by invasive machinery and drills. Waste-disposal carts filled with bloodstained clothing and bandages. Bins filled with discarded surgical instruments, all covered with blood and just left to rust. Propaganda pictures on the walls all following the same lines and rousing imagery Squall had seen a thousand times before in newscasts and textbooks; raised fists and proud soldiery with slogans to exhort the proud servants of the great state of Galbadia. Pictures of greenery looking obscene and out-of-place when set against the clinical cruelty of the labs. They looked through gathering halls where food had been left abandoned, as if people had left their stations mid-meal. Cigarettes left to drip ash onto the floor.

They stood in the lab. Pictures of women and children sat in picture frames in their desks. Like any office. Flowers had died in their pots from lack of watering. The deathly quiet of the room felt like a physical force against his eardrums and Squall found himself coughing unconsciously to hear some, any noise in the quiet. Idly he looked through the reams and reams of paper but he could barely stand to read the titles before dropping them back onto desks.

_Natural Human Para-Magical Resistance Levels by Age (Practical Tests III)_

_Surface Tension Problems in Flesh/Metaphysical Interfaces_

_Mortality Rates of Ley-Line Injection Locations_

_Testing the Limits of Subcutaneous Prana Infusion_

_Effective De-Limiter Substances in Cerebral Tissue_

"What were they doing down here?" Rinoa asked quietly as she looked through a viewing window down into a circular room. Tables set around the outside all looking down on something a cross between an operating table and a torture chair. "What were they doing?"

Seifer rose from the desk he was sat over. A computer screen glowed softly. The look on his face was nothing Squall had ever seen, or hoped to see again. Some cross between disgust, hopelessness and anger. "Look."

Squall stared down at the collection of dated pages and felt bile rise in his throat as he read the clinical words of long-dead (he hoped, for their own sake) scientists.

_-research conditions and staff habits have been woeful. The wild theorising and lack of responsibility stops now. With the loss of the offshore facility we can no longer afford to maintain such research at arm's-length and the general has given strict ins-_

_-inability to duplicate 'sorcery' under any circumstances leaves us with two approaches-_

_-that Dr Brill has proposed. Unfortunately with the loss of the last 'blue' bloodline (note; we'll talk about your safety precautions later Dr Geras) and the final subject remaining unreachable at the Kramer academy (see doc: 28273) I must regret to say our only option remains-_

_-no progress can be made unless capture can be arranged, the twin-linked existences at location 343:286 still resist all attempts to-_

_-original purpose or evolution of the GF life-form cannot be ascertained, however the physical makeup is easily understood, if not so easily replica-_

_-raconic (You know I don't like that term Alan) life-form far from co-operative simply ignores all attempts at communication. What staff remain alive in the offshore facility have been re-tasked by the being itself with buildi-_

_-esearch on A1 gives us several avenues of approach to-_

_-illing subjects would obviously be of help but the large amount of war-prisoners and university cadavers should be more than enough to-_

_-ile mass-production will likely never be possible the goal remains of a small cadre dedicated to-_

_-interests of the lab more instruments will be needed, special consideration given to sharps and cleaning flui-_

_-hile the nature of A1's decay will hold us back we anticipa-_

_-within a year-_

_-deployment-_

"They were trying to make Guardians. Guardians out of humans," Seifer said through gritted teeth.

Squall jerked upright from his reverie as a hand slammed into the wall He turned to see what Seifer had found but the man was staring out at the labs, and it had been Rinoa's hand that had hit the desk with enough force to dent the metal. "Rinoa? Rin." As he walked over he saw tears drip onto the papers and he drew her close. "Hey."

"He did this," Rinoa said as she cried into Squall's chest. "He did- he knew about all these things and…and…"

"Shhh, it's alright," he whispered into his wife's ear.

"_He made humans into monsters!"_ she almost screamed at him.

"No." They both looked up at Seifer, who looked back at Rinoa calmly. "I knew Caraway. He was proud and vain and not a little power-hungry but he was still a soldier. No soldier would have done this."

"But…all this…"

Seifer shrugged. "Galbadia's a big place. Shit, I doubt he even knew this place was here. Did you ever meet his generals?" Rinoa shook her head. "They were slimy pieces of shit and they'd kill a man for a few gold if they needed the pocket-change. And who do we know who was the slimiest, and came here when all this mess started up? This was Melanthios' work Rin. He was good, he would have got this moving and they would have loved him for it and Caraway would never have known." He snorted in amusement. "Shit, ask your new spouse if he knew everything that was going on in Balamb Garden when he was commander." He looked up at Squall, who nodded in support of the man's argument. "Hell I bet he never even knew Zell made bets on which of us would win in a fight."

"No, I- _he did what?"_

Rinoa laughed and wiped tears from her eyes. Squall took the chance to nod at Seifer. _Thanks._

The cocky grin came back: _No problem. _"We have a job to do Rin. Shiva's not herself. Some piece of shit is controlling her and making her kill. We need to find out who and why and how we can help her."

She waved Squall's piece of paper. "Who's A1?"

Seifer shrugged and tapped the wall. Lists of labs and names were listed directory-like by location. "We have another floor to go. Let's go find out. And then we get out of here and tell Esthar to burn this place all the way into the bedrock."

"All the way," Rinoa replied, with fire in her eyes.

* * *

Squall tapped a button and the door slid outwards on invisible bearings. Seifer examined it as it went past and made noises of appreciation. It was inches-thick steel. "They didn't screw around," the man said in admiration. The anger had slowly leaked out of his voice as he walked, reduced from a snarling anger at the people who had worked here down to a more subdued fury at Galbadia in general. Squall didn't know which was more dangerous.

_There's no use getting mad at metal and paper. Just give me ten minutes when we find these people though._

The corridor beyond was different. Clinical white gave way to a riot of colour, like a child had taken a dozen paintbrushes and been locked in with orders to empty them. The red paint gave way on the walls to blue and green and white strips of wallpaper that hung loosely from the wall, and-

_That isn't paint. Or wallpaper._ "Oh my God," Seifer whispered, forgetting to keep up his image in Squall's presence as the trio flipped their perceptions around and saw the colours and tapering strips for what they really were.

Blood covered the walls from floor to ceiling, a solid sheet of gore. Peeling wallpaper was clothing drooping from the remnants of the bodies plastered in a thin layer onto every surface. Desks, papers, everything lay flattened against the wall, leaving only dull patches of metal where steel had been ripped away from fittings and thrown against the surfaces and crushed there. Squall could hear Rinoa retching behind him as he stepped over the thick blast-door. His feet landed with a sickening sound as he walked and he kept his voice level as he looked around at Seifer. "Well, we found the scientists." There was a thin breeze against his face and the air was full of the scent of blood and decay.

"What's that noise?"

Squall and Seifer fell silent as they listened. They didn't have to listen long. "There's someone alive down here," Squall said, and began to move, ignoring the bloody mess underfoot.

They moved through the final corridors without speaking. They were beyond shock or surprise now, drained of it by the stench of secrets best left buried. Squall didn't halt at the final door. At some unconscious agreement with Seifer the pair drew their gunblades and slammed them as hard as they could into the hinges, and pulled. The door fell away with a crash as a blast of air howled against their faces and the light from inside the final room blinded them and the laughter rose up and he was _right in front of them._

"Mr Leonhart."

Squall caught a blur of motion in his peripheral vision and reached across to stop Seifer before he could run forward and bury his sword in Melanthios' chest. His head didn't turn from the man in black's eyes. Eye. "Seifer, stop. He can't get to us."

"The fuck you say," Seifer snarled.

"He doesn't have any legs, Seifer."

* * *

The chamber was so large Squall couldn't see the other side of it from the entrance, a room shaped like a huge cylinder that reached up and down and seemed to go on forever. Steel-mesh walkways criss-crossed the massive steel machine that sat in the centre of the chamber and went down, down, farther than Squall could see deep into the black depths the lights on the walls couldn't penetrate. Melanthios sat in front of it, steel chain looping around the machine and holding him against it like a sacrifice propped up and waiting for the monster to come and feed on it.

His arms hung above him, pinioned there by his chains. Both legs ended just above the knee and one eye had been smashed away. Cracks and jagged edges radiated out of every wound inflicted on the man's torso. If Squall had seen him in any other circumstance he might have taken the broken creature for a ruined china doll. One eye remained whole, and whatever remnant of the man's poise or sanity remained stared out at him.

Squall looked across at the man and tried to resist the urge to walk over and simply stab the Lionheart into his pathetic excuse for a brain. "So this is where you ran to." Melanthios laughed, and in the laughter there was no mistaking his mental state. Squall went on; "Almas killed your monsters and you ran and hid down here, in your little Galbadian nest."

"More or less," the man in black replied with a voice like a broken and static-filled radio. He shook his head sadly, as if looking back over a treasured memory and not a total defeat. "It was all to nothing in the end."

"You came here to die," Rinoa said quietly as she stared with some mixture of disgust and pity at the creature. "You had no power, you were falling apart." She blinked with realisation. "The scientists were talking about _you_. You're A1."

Melanthios laughed again and his one good eye stared at her with alien intensity. "You're a good woman Heartilly but you're no soldier. I'm not A1. No, no."

"This doesn't matter," Seifer said shortly. "You have something we want. Some_one_ we want."

Melanthios turned his gaze as if seeing him for the first time. "Do you seriously think I can 'hold' anything here, like this with my arms chained up and powerless, you stupid man?" He paused for a second. "I've met the woman in question but I'm not the one pulling her strings."

Squall paused for thought as some light of understanding began to shine. "You're a prisoner here."

"Yes! The lion has brains to go with his brawn!"

"If you're not the one controlling Shiva _then who is_?"

Melanthios leaned forward beckoning Squall further into the room and closer. "Help me," he said urgently. "Get me out of here. Do what you want with me but don't leave me here like this. I'd rather die than stay chained up here like someone's broken trophy. _His_ trophy."

_Don't trust him. Don't let him out of here or it'll all start over again somehow. Look back in those rooms. Look at what they were trying to do and tear his head off right now. _But another part of Squall was only thinking of his warped friend. "Tell us what you know and we'll consider it."

But Melanthios wasn't looking at Squall anymore. "NO!"

Squall spun around as he felt the temperature drop, and Shiva's lance met the Lionheart before Squall even realised he had raised it. Squall jumped back and caught Seifer and Rinoa doing the same as all three tried to put some distance between themselves and the Guardian of Ice. For a second everyone in the chamber froze in surprise and Squall finally got a good look at the woman he had once called friend.

Shiva stared back at him and she was a ruin. Her light blue skin had warped and darkened until it looked like a bruise covering her body, purple-streaked hair faded into black. Her eyes looked like they were clouded with cataracts and there was no expression on her face. No recognisance or sorrow came from those dead eyes, her face expressionless and unmoving.

_My God Shiva what did they do to you?_

Squall glanced across at Rinoa and Seifer who were already moving to flank the corrupted Guardian as she stepped into the room, lance held ready.

"I'll give you this one for free Leonhart, what weapon do you remember her using most?" Melanthios hissed urgently from his metal shackles.

_I remember Shiva as a close friend, not some dim soldier, not some cold killing machine. _Squall thought in frustration. But then a second thought rose up alongside it. _But she could be, when she really needed it._ The memory appeared of Shiva facing off against the Espers in Balamb, weapons forming out of the ice.

The black woman in front of him shifted imperceptibly on the balls of her feet and suddenly the air flowed around her hands into a long lance of an icicle. Squall paused in surprise until he realised what Melanthios had done. _Oh screw you._

"That's your first clue human," the man in black cackled.

Shiva spoke and it sounded like a death-rattle. "Squ…all…"

"Shiva, speak to me," Squall pleaded. "You can fight this."

"Not…Sh-"

She struck. The lance flew forward as Shiva almost slid towards them across the floor and Squall ducked as the sharpened death stabbed past his head. Seifer roared a challenge and charged forward, ducking aside a kick aimed at taking his head off and slamming down the flat of the blade trying to knock her unconscious. Shiva's arm came up and she stepped back like a dancer as the pair swung their gunblades together, Seifer's bouncing harmlessly from her forearm and Squall's missing entirely, rending the metal grating where it struck. By the time they had hurriedly withdrawn them and brought them up to defend against a counterattack Shiva was already out of their range.

She watched them at a distance, placed between them and the door. She tilted her head as if listening to a voice only she could hear. Suddenly and without warning Squall saw red appear across her body. _Did we get her?_ It only took a second however before he realised he was viewing the bloodstained corridor _behind_ the woman. As the trio watched second the Guardian woman they had known for so long had faded out of view. The entire conflict from Shiva's first strike to her abrupt departure couldn't have taken more than a minute, but he felt exhausted.

Seifer was the first to speak. "That was quick."

Squall felt a headache coming on as he turned with a sinking feeling in his gut. "It wasn't us she was after."

Shiva's first strike that had missed Squall had in fact been aimed perfectly, stabbing Melanthios through his broken eye and up through his brain, hard enough that it had penetrated all the way through and into the great machine behind the chained-up man. A dull rasp came out of the worldshell's mouth as Squall approached.

Melanthios stared at Squall with loathing as hairline cracks appeared across his skin and his face began to shatter. "No…no…time…Leonhart." He laughed and the sound in the quiet cylinder echoed for seconds. "Finish the job."

"What do you know?" Squall asked urgently. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Sun…sunrisssssssse…makes monsters go awayayay.."

"Just tell us, you obtuse prick!" Seifer shouted. "Who's doing this? The shadows in the night! Who's got Shiva on a leash! Did Galbadia succeed in making artificial Guardians! _Who the fuck is A1!_"

"Look…look above for your…answeeeerssssssss…"

"_What does that even mean!"_

But the creature was beyond hearing. With a final death-rattle Melanthios slumped down. The arms held down by the chains shattered and his torso fell to the metal grid, where the impact broke it like a glass ball. Finally all that remained of the once-feared magical adversary was a dull clump of rapidly-fading shards on the ground.

"Squall," Rinoa said quietly. "Look."

"What?" he replied as he turned. Rinoa was staring up at something above him. He turned but all he could see was the giant machinery. He walked over to his wife. "Rinoa, what is it?"

"'Look above.' He meant it literally."

Squall turned. "I don't see…" his voice trailed off as he looked again and saw what he was seeing.

Seifer joined them. His eyes widened as he realised what he was looking at. "No fucking way."

The machinery above wasn't a machine. The central metal body hung down past them and vanished into the darkness below. What looked like two massive flywheels attached to either side attached twin cylinders onto the main part of the machine, themselves ending in something that could have cannons or segmented steel drums. Perched on the top of the central body was some kind of elaborate viewing machinery, and on the back was what could have been the world's biggest pipe-organ. The entire structure was beautifully carved with ornate scrolling and words in a language Squall could and would never recognise.

Torso.

Arms.

Head.

Armament.

"It's A1," Squall breathed as Rinoa grasped his hand for reassurance that he wasn't in some crazy nightmare. "The men trying to make artificial Guardians. They were taking all their research data from a specimen. That's why they thought they could do it. _They had a Guardian corpse to study_."

"It's Alexander."


	37. From Dark

"Please don't take this the wrong way Mr Leonhart but I had hoped we wouldn't be meeting in places like this anymore."

"None taken. And call me Squall."

Duchess Li Nuo looked up at the suspended metal corpse and shook her head. She was dressed in a simple black-jacketed ensemble whose sharp lines and tailoring gave off a slight whiff of a military uniform. Even if the training was still there Li had shrugged off her SeeD identity and returned to the world outside the Garden, only a small enamelled badge on her lapel and a familiar blade sheathed over her shoulder the sign she had once been part of the elite mercenary unit. She turned away from the body (_if we can even call it that)_ and looked him in the eyes, something she could never have done while she had still been under his command. Now, at least, they could talk as equals. "You're sure this isn't just some trick? He was a smart monster if nothing else." She glanced towards the centre of the room and the small patch of steel flooring that was just a little bit darker than the rest. All that remained of Melanthios and whatever desperate scheme he had fled here to plan.

Squall shook his head and stepped back to allow a Dolletian soldier passage into the room. He couldn't quite bring himself to stay inside the huge chamber. It had more than a passing feeling to a tomb. He felt like he was exhuming a body. "Alexander fought with us in the Sorceress War (_if you can count standing well back and shelling the enemy from a half-mile away 'fought with' _he didn't say_)_. We only met in person a couple of times afterwards but he's not the kind of man you forget. Forgot." _Shit._

The sound of banging and heavy machinery came from behind them, back in the main laboratories. Squall and Seifer had waited on the surface as the quiet but powerful military vehicles had rolled up to the surface entrance and disgorged troops and scientists, followed by the Duchess and her retinue. Leonard had given a small nod to Squall and blended into the background, so well Squall sometimes forgot the man was there. Irvine would be proud. After halting at the gruesome threshold of the inner labs the technicians had swarmed over every surface they could find, collecting papers and machinery in a whirlwind of action, until finally they had reached the central chamber and stopped dead, either in horror or awe. He hadn't asked which.

"What the hell do we even do about this?" Seifer asked as he checked his watch. "We're wasting daylight, I don't want to still be down here at sunset."

Three nights since they had made the dangerous trek back to the surface, confused and not a little scared Esthar soldiers grouped around the tall electric lightpole outside the laboratory like it was some kind of protective talisman. When they had reached the city again Squall had made a single phonecall.

_Laguna? We've found something._

The reply had been instant. Like the man had just been waiting on his confirmation of things he already knew to be true:

_Help is coming._

They'd spent the next two nights in their Galbadian hotel rooms, days spent trying to work their minds around the enormity of what they had seen, nights spent keeping watch, every gentle sound outside the window making them wonder what could be crawling over the parapet and down to them, every car or truck backfire having them reach for their weapons and every sudden wind or drop in temperature making them look around with suddenly-nervous eyes expecting to see Shiva leaping out of them from any blind corner. Civilians on the streets did their business with haste and then left to scurry back behind their own doors; businesses closed and put down their bars for the first time since the Esper War ended. Galbadian soldiers shifted nervously at their posts and held up every unknown shape passing by them, their dislike of the invading Estharian forces forgotten in gratitude for the lights the Esthar soldiers brought with them. Deling City was wrapped in misery. Finally on the third night Li had arrived with her contingent. She hadn't asked how bad it was. She could see from the shadows under their eyes.

Squall looked up at the giant metal carapace. _What happened to you Alexander? How did they manage to chain you down here in the dark?_ "Anything?" he asked the woman in the white dress and golden pendant. Siren stood next to the corpse staring up forlornly at the remains of the great Guardian. "We shouldn't stay down here too long."

Siren ran a hand down Alexander's chest. "No, there's nothing," she said, the grief in her voice plain. "He's gone."

Li coughed. "Lady Siren, I'm sorry for your loss, but Squall's right." The young woman, still in her teens, took a deep breath before she continued. "What I believe our rather stoic partner is too polite to say is that your brother's suffering is over. I don't doubt that you will make your own arrangements for…burial, but we need to concern ourselves with our own lives now." Li stared into Siren's cool gaze and went on. "We need to leave, now, before night falls."

"And Shiva returns?"

"You'll have all the help of Dollet in discovering who's behind all this Siren," Li said, and the anger simmered just under the surface. "We'll help you get those bastards and save Shiva, whoever's pulling the strings. But we should_ leave_. _Now_."

* * *

The sky blazed shades of orange and red as they came out into the smog-choked air of Deling. A cold front had moved in from the north and descended onto the city without warning and the fog it brought was like a thick soup. Squall could hold a hand out in front of him and beyond it see only the rough outlines shapes of men and vehicles beyond the security perimeter set up by ghostly Dollet and Esthar soldiers.

"Where's Rinoa?" Li asked as she climbed aboard the middle craft and held out a hand to help him on.

"Back in a hotel," he answered. She hadn't taken their discovery well.

"I want you three with me inside our HQ," the Duchess said in a clipped voice, looking out beyond the mist, and he could see the young woman felt the same nervousness and hesitance as him. "I don't want you out here alone if Shiva – or whatever Shiva is now – is hunting for you."

"Yes, your grace," Seifer replied with a grin and an exaggerated bow.

Li blushed as she realised how she had been talking to the pair, men her senior in both years and experience. But only a small blush. "Good, then let's go get Rinoa and then get behind a nice thick steel wall."

As the trucks winded their way through the city Squall looked out through the slits in the metal hull of the APC. Some men and women glanced up at the Dolletian vehicles as they passed but most kept their heads down and hurried on to their destination as the last vestiges of light faded from the sky. He was distracted from his reverie by the sound of fists on metal and turned to look at Li.

"What's happening Squall?" she asked as she waved a sheet of paper in her hand. "One of my men handed this to me as we left." She ran her eyes down the page. "I don't even know what to think, or I do and I just don't want to believe it. What the hell were they doing down there?"

"Someone was trying to create Guardians," Seifer said through gritted teeth as Squall opened his mouth to reply. "By taking normal humans and injecting and torturing and experimenting on them until they were monsters."

Li fanned the paper in her hand. "All these sheets are copies Squall." She let go of it as if her disgust was too great to keep hold of it, and it drifted to the floor where it lay there like some accusatory piece of evidence in a monstrous crime. "The originals are gone."

He felt his heart sink as Li went on. "Galbadia – or at least Melanthios – was experimenting on creating artificial Guardians, and they were using Alexander to do it. Now someone's decided to take over that project, and they're cleaning up the old bosses and have enslaved a very powerful Guardian to do it with. Am I right so far?"

Squall sighed and when he spoke he found he couldn't put any emotion into his voice. "Yes. That's about right."

Li sighed and Squall saw the weeks of late nights reflected in her tired eyes. "All I wanted was a quiet life."

"I thought you wanted to be a SeeD," Seifer said.

"All I want _now_ is a quiet life." She rubbed her hands together, the golden band on her ring finger still new enough to chafe. "All this saving-the-world stuff looked much more glamorous from the outside."

Squall shrugged. "Welcome to the club. We had t-shirts printed." He swayed in his seat as the APC came to a stop in the gathering darkness. "Trouble?"

Li waved him back. "Well?" she asked the driver. The whispered reply came back and she sat back down with a shrug. "Just a checkpoint." She sat back and closed her eyes.

Later on Squall wouldn't be able to answer Li when she asked him what made him do it. Maybe his new lack of magic had heightened his remaining abilities, or some unnatural movement from beyond the APC's slotted gun-ports. Whatever force he acted on saved his life as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his nerves started shouting _something's not right, there are no military checkpoints inside the city-_

He was already diving for the steel floor as something flew across his vision almost too fast to register, leaving two neat holes in the APC's bulkhead. He could see Li and Seifer in his peripheral vision, her already ducking down out of the line of the eerily silent fire and Seifer slamming his boost against the rear hatch so hard it almost flung back into his face on the rebound. _"Out!"_

Three Dollet soldiers stared up at the sky, neat holes drilled through their foreheads, and Squall looked away before he saw something that would ruin his appetite forever. Flickers of…something…were coming out of the night and finding their marks with unnerving accuracy as the screams of the soldiers surrounding the APCs fell to the silent barrage, only the distortion of the air the sign of anything happening at all. Black shapes moved in the mists beyond, but Squall could see faint outlines through the fog and it shocked him to the core.

_We're being attacked by Esthar soldiers? Impossible._

Squall turned to shout a warning to Li and Seifer before realising he didn't have to. The only sound in the black night was the sharp _bang _of the Dollet soldiers as they defended the vehicles and a sharp-eyed Leonard calling into his radio for any help, any at all. The attackers made not a sound. "Seifer!"

"We have to get out of here!" Li said quickly. "We're boxed in if they have a squad behind us."

"Agreed." Squall risked raising himself up. "_Hey! Let's go!"_ Dolletian soldiers turned at the sound of his voice but it was Li they were looking towards, and they only moved when she nodded. Boots scraped against the road as they leapt up and ran for the streets. Squall made sure he was the last and found himself the sole person looking out on the scene. Solid-steel APCs built like miniature tanks (hell they _were miniature tanks) _looked like someone had systematically taken a heavy drill to them, perfect circular holes dotted around them, bodies left behind the same. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Seifer looking disbelievingly at him.

"What the hell man, let's go!"

Squall nodded and ran into the side-streets to catch up with the others as the dull footsteps from the street came closer, the shapes of black-armoured Estharian soldiers coming out of the evening mists towards them.

"Where to?" Seifer asked as they rounded a corner into a dank alley. "We can't stay out in the dark."

Li nodded. "We can get to the Esthar camp from-"

"No," Squall said whip-fast. "First we go get Rinoa."

Li looked doubtful. "Almas is with Rinoa Squall, I don't think-" She stopped talking as she saw the look in his eyes.

"First, we get Rinoa."

* * *

She could feel it like a miasma seeping through the hotel windows, like a poison gas so thin it was almost absent but still tickled at the edge of her senses. She could feel something pull at her from the city outside her window and paced nervously, the opulent room unable to calm the nerves that had been steadily mounting up as the night went on. She walked to the window for the fifth time and looked out over the soup-like air covering Deling. "They should be back by now. Where are they?" she asked the silent figure sitting alert on the chair by the door.

Almas shrugged. "Maybe they got lost in the fog. It might-"

_CRASH_

Almas leapt from the chair the same second Rinoa spun around as the smash of glass sounded from below. She gestured over at the other woman. "Stay up here." Before Rinoa could even open her mouth to protest she had already slipped through the room door and locked it behind her. Her eyes ran across the corridor to see nothing except a scared eyeball peeping out of a barely-open door. She dropped her gunblade to point at the ground and waved her hand in a warning and whoever was on the other side slammed the door without a word. She crept towards the stairs, keeping her blade poised to swing at anything that tried to rush her. The silence in the empty hotel corridor, the absence of any noise at all, encroached on her eardrums until she felt like she could have heard a pin-drop in the next building. She didn't have to look that far. Sounds like a car backfiring came from far below, but no car engine backfired _that_ many times. Almas' mind shouted in frustration and she let her body take over as she dashed to the stairwell just as-

The man came up over the banister fast, thin blade extended and already stabbing forward to pierce her heart as she threw her weight backwards, hands already outstretched behind her. The tip of the sword and the rest of the man practically sailed over her and she had one second to see the lack of surprise on his face before she spun around and came up facing the Dollet (_what?)_ soldier as the man did the same, his long blade carving through the narrow corridor walls, and as they faced off Almas finally got a good look at him.

She remembered a picture from her childhood, going to the doctor for some childhood scrape. Frosted-glass partitions had divided her from the physician and she had been able to see through them. The clouded glass had twisted and distorted the simple instruments until to her child's eyes they looked like torture devices and the doctor himself an ill-defined ghoul, fuzzy at the edges and with shadows and reflections falling in all the wrong places. She had fought with her father to leave until her noisy panic had brought the doctor back around the partitions and he had turned back into a human being, holding only an innocuous thermometer.

The soldier facing Almas had no face or any features beyond a vague outline of a Dollet uniform. Lines broke and faded around his edges and it appeared to vibrate with constant motion. His skin looked like one huge black uncertain bruise; the skin of the creature looking like some cancerous force had sucked the colour away and left only a black stain. Where his face should have been was only a black slate, two cavernous holes for eyes, and just the barest hint or red buried deep inside. A nightmare image.

"_RINOA! WE'RE LEAVING!"_ The ghost soldier swung it's blade as she shouted leaving black scores in the plaster walls. Almas parried with her own gunblade and heard the horrifying sound of steel cracking. She pushed forward and stepped back as she repelled his first strike and drew back her own sword to swing before her mind caught up with her eyes, and her blade _thunk_ed into the wall.

"Almas, what-" Rinoa gasped as she caught sight of creature that spun at the sound of her voice as she emerged from the room. It took one step forward and as Rinoa watched a silvery shard of metal emerged from its chest as Almas took her moment and stabbed forward, almost _jumped_ the distance to get to it before it could raise its blade against her guard. With all her strength she heaved upward and the sound the creature made as her sword went through its ribcage, throat, skull, out the top was indescribable.

She danced backward a step wary for any further shock, but the soldier slumped to the floor without a sound. Almas steadied herself against the wall and took a moment to wipe sweat from her eyes and hide her shaky legs before looking up at Rinoa. "What the _hell_?"

Rinoa wasn't looking back. "Almas, look."

The young woman turned to look back at the corpse as it wavered before their eyes in a manner they were all-too familiar with. "You're kidding." Before she could say another word though Rinoa was already past her and running down the corridor. "Hey, _hey!"_ She leapt after Rinoa as she took the stairs a floor at a time and was near to collapsing when they arrived on the ground level to see-

"_Squall!_"

Squall turned away from the terrified man at the desk and to Almas' eyes the worry seemed to drain from his face. The couple ran towards each other and embraced in the centre of the lobby, Squall's voice seemingly stuck on repeat: "Thank God, thank God." He looked past the embrace for a second and nodded at Almas. _Thanks._

"We were attacked by-"

"We were ambushed by-"

"Is this some parting gift of those two Esper bastards?" Leonard asked after they had all had a chance to catch their breath.

Rinoa shook her head and looked thoughtful. "We were attacked by something that looked like a Dollet soldier, not Galbadian."

Li's head snapped around from the entrance to face her. "Dollet?" Rinoa nodded once. "Show me."

* * *

"I know this man."

The group stared down at the figure of the dead soldier, even though 'figure' was no longer apt to describe it. It reminded Almas of an ice-sculpture left too long in the sun. Hard edges had melted away until all that remained was some obscene sculpture in the shape of a man.

The others looked at Li, who stared down dispassionately at the disintegrating figure. "Li I hate to ask but…" Seifer began.

Li just shook her head and pointed at a patch of darkness just a little more regular and less dark than the rest. "The red sash is – was – Dollet livery of a guard in a noble's household. The sword is a veteran's. This man was my father's bodyguard." She shook her head in confusion and kept staring, as if somehow merely looking at the corpse would produce answers. "I remember it from when I was a kid, but-" Her foot lashed out and she kicked the body. "He died years ago."

An unwelcome thought began to worm its way through Squall's brain. "Rinoa," he asked in a whisper, "did you recognise any of the Galbadians in those soldiers hat attacked us? Rinoa shook her head and he could see she didn't understand. He turned to Seifer. "Did we get any prisoners?" Leonard shrugged. "Go and check." He looked out of the window, out over the dark and noiseless city. "Almas, go with him, take the Dollet soldiers downstairs with you. We're still a long time away from sunrise, don't do _anything_ alone."

"What's sunrise got to do with it?" Li asked, pointedly not mentioning Squall commanding _her_ troops.

"Melanthios said something, before Shiva killed him." He looked over at Seifer, who stared back impassively. Both were SeeD-trained. He knew their minds would be running on similar tracks. "You said it too right?" Seifer nodded and Squall turned to Li. "Something's happening in the dark." He glanced down at the body. It remained, steadfastly refusing to deteriorate entirely into nothing. "We-" he stopped as a rhythmic thumping noise came from behind, and as one they all whirled to see a small portly man staring at them with some mixture of fear and relief.

"Mr…Mr Leonhart?"

Squall placed himself between the man's line of vision and the body of the dead creature. "Yes?"

"You have a call sir. F…from Esthar."

Squall shrugged at Rinoa's look of concern and then turned back to the man. "Did they say who it was?" The mundanity of the situation seemed absurd in the badly-lit corridor, young warriors stood around the body of the unearthly black decaying creature.

"A man called Zell sir."

Squall sighed. _Of course._

"He seemed quite irate."

* * *

"How'd you know?" Zell said in surprise.

"_Don't ask Zell. How many attacked?"_

"'Bout ten of them just came outta nowhere and started slashing away! What the hell man?" Zell kicked the body of the creature as he held the small phone up to his ear. "At first we thought they were just rebels or some weird Sorceress-lovers still angry about Adel but – wait Rinoa didn't hear that last part did she? Phew. Anyway like I said some of them looked like Esthar special forces but a couple of others were Galbadians, swear to God. But they're weird, like they have no colour. And they kind of…er…melt, I guess is the only word. It's creeping me out."

"_When exactly, Zell?"_

"Just before sunrise I guess."

"_This is going to sound weird but think about it: Did you recognise any of the attackers?"_ Squall waited for a moment as Zell replied in the negative. _"Ask the others. I can't explain why."_

"Hey if it's important, sure. Anything else?"

"_Stay in Esthar, hold down the fort. Tell Odine to send an airship for us, we'll wait in Deling."_

Zell chuckled as she stared out over the carnage. "Guess SeeD's not shut down after all huh?" But Squall had already hung up.

Irvine and Selphie stood in the light half a world away as dawn rose over Esthar, surrounded by the dark bodies of their attackers. Zell surveyed the carnage. The Estharian guards at the airship factory had died at their posts, cut down before they could react to the assault that had come from nowhere. Only Selphie's presence in the Clockworks had saved those inside as the attackers had passed through security like it hadn't existed. The first thing she had done was call him, and Irvine had been out of the door before Zell had even put the phone down. The scene they arrived at was unnatural; they had come through the attackers without a word, the black shadows falling silently as they met Irvine's bullets and Zell's crushing fists. Selphie had been waiting for them inside, along with the terrified technicians, with only a look of impatience on her face.

_What took you so long?_

"Just when we thought we were done," the cowboy said, and Zell could hear an unfamiliar tiredness in his voice. "There's always one more god-damned thing."

Zell couldn't resist a grin. "I never wanted a quiet life."

* * *

"So it isn't just Deling," Rinoa said as Squall put the handset down.

"Esthar too," he replied, and went through what Zell had told him. "Shadows, just under a dozen, all from different armies."

"They're attacking in the dark. Dusk here in Galbadia and dawn in Esthar was the best chance they had to get us all at the same time," Seifer said quickly. "They're going for _us."_

Squall shivered as if a cold wind had just blown through the hotel, so strongly that for a moment he was ready to draw his gunblade again in case Shiva should be attacking again. He quickly threw the feeling off for what it was: Fear of the unknown. "We need to get back to Esthar, all of us." He looked over at Li. "Now."

Li's gaze met his. "When Leonard gets back."

"She's got you there commander," Seifer said with a smirk. God but he wanted to punch the man some days. Most days.

"Alright, we'll wait for our comrades to get back. _Then_ we go to Esthar." He looked out the window again, wondering if he willed hard enough could he make the sun come up. Dawn was a long way away.

Far too long.


	38. Broken Sunrise

"_I want to do something to help. Are you sure there's not-"_

"_No."_

_Bright pinpoints of light dotted the sky, the only feature that separated the black sky from the abyss they travelled over. He looked back at his travelling companion. He had trouble focussing, the smooth rocking of the train threatening to send him to sleep. _Can you even sleep in a dream? Would you just wake up?_ "Why not?"_

_A finger waggled at him reproachfully. "This is a private conversation we're having Squall." The being turns to look out the window. With the desert far behind and the stars providing no real shine their only light comes from the tepid gas-lamps inside the train carriage, throwing off shadows in every direction. He's tried to get a good luck at whoever it is he's sitting across from but every time some small bend in the track they're on will throw the shadows a different way and he's thwarted. After a decade of military training he's beginning to wish that a week or two had been devoted to lucid dreaming because the last five nights from the Ragnarok leaving Deling to their arrival in Esthar it's the only one he's been having, and it's starting to worry him._

_The woman in the back of the carriage, so far as he can tell the _only_ other passenger in the carriage, has ceased crying and now all that comes from behind him is a low muffled sob. The name of the grieving passenger is tapping at the back of his mind like an insistent woodpecker, but he can't quite, can't quite reach in and grab it. He wants to stand up and go back there and ask, but something's keeping him in his seat, and he's not sure whether it's the ghostlike fellow traveller in front of him or some other outside impulse. He keeps his seat._

"_So, how have you been?"_

_Why not? It's not like this will even be the strangest or stupidest thing that he's ever done. Talking with a ghost he can barely see. "It's pretty unsettling. We've had reports of attacks across the world. On their own they'd be small fry, but put them all together and it's beginning to look like something a lot scarier."_

"_Co-ordinated attacks?"_

_He shakes his head as he looks out of the window, trying to find some, any, feature in the black land. "Not yet. Deling City's pretty much on lockdown-"_

"_No change there then."_

_He shrugs. "True, but this time the civilians almost _demanded_ it of the soldiers. Fujin and Raijin are helping with that. Dollet and Timber have seen a few of these shadow-people but no attacks, just black shapes on hills. Scouts, maybe."_

"_Esthar?"_

_Is it his jumpy dream-nerves, or can he hear a slight note of urgency in their tone? "No, no attacks in Esthar yet, but Laguna's taking no chances, he's already moved a battalion to reinforce the city militia." He leaned back in the comfortable leather-backed seat. It really was a very nice ride. "And of course the one thing everyone notices; it's always people they know."_

_Suddenly he realises how cold the train carriage is. For a moment he wishes he'd brought a jacket, one of the thick Trabian ones Selphie gave them last time they were at T-Garden, but his rational mind kicks him for thinking such a ludicrous thought._

"_People they know, or people they remember?" the shadow asks him._

"_Does it matter?"_

_If he could see the person's eyes he knows they'd probably be narrowing at him. "It always matters Squall, didn't that get drilled into you enough by your trainers?" The figure shifts nervously. "You need to have a long think about what you know Squall."_

"_What we know is nothing," he shoots back. He raised a hand and started ticking off points on his fingers as he talked. "Something captured and killed Alexander, a very powerful Guardian. Something managed to enslave Shiva, _another_ very powerful Guardian. Something is creating these shadow-soldiers and is sending them out to kill people I care about." He could feel the anger in his voice as he went on. "They look like people we used to know, or that we remember seeing. We don't know who's doing it or what for or where to start looking." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he spat out the final words. "So any help you can give would be appreciated." He looked outside the window. The stars were more numerous than they had been; as if they were beginning to leave the black void they had entered what seemed like nights ago. Faint washes of colour were beginning to return to the land but hesitantly, as if testing the waters before committing themselves to bringing light back to that barren landscape outside the train._

"_You already have all the pieces Squall. You're just not putting them together very well." A sigh, and then: "You always did need someone to get you moving." A pause. "What do you remember about Quistis Trepe?"_

_He can feel something in the figure's voice and he doesn't like it. Like a screw being tightened. "What do you mean?"_

"_Just an image Squall, just an image. What do you remember when you think of her? No hesitation, first thought that comes into your mind. Answer the question!"_

_And the word came out: "Blood." _There had been so much blood, and no sign of the body it had came from. _Old fears came rushing up out of the not-so-ancient past at the image: _I will not become _a memory. "But I don't see what-" His voice cut off as suddenly the figure coalesced before him and he was staring into Quistis' eyes. But not the clear blue eyes he remembers from the good times. The eyes that stare out at him now are cracked and veined like a dead fish._

"_Don't look away."_

_Squall sat eyes rooted to the spot as a line of red trickled down the ghost's forehead. As he watched the trickle turned into a steady stream, into a torrent of blood that flowed down over her face like a curtain. When she spoke it was a death-rattle coming out of a ruined throat. "Not her. Just an image. Don't look away."_

_Like a film exposed to the fire Quistis dissolved before him as ragged holes and tears appeared on her body and wept blood. He tried to look away but found himself frozen like a statue and forced to watch the hideous display as the red flowed down her decaying body and pooled around them on the floor and the table. He could hear a dull ringing in his head that felt as if some metal plate was being hammered onto his skull. The ghost shaped like his sister sat forward and her stained eyes looked into his as the sound increased to an insane volume._

"_Give my love to…the songstress…"_

_And then mercifully the world faded into white, and only one woman's voice could be heard._

* * *

"Squall? _Squall!"_

He bolted up as if the bedclothes below him were electricity. "Rin?" He turned to look at his wife, concern shining out of her face at him.

"You were practically screaming in your sleep Squall, what's the matter?"

He collapsed back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "A nightmare. Just a nightmare, that's all."

Rinoa stared at him unconvinced. "You're a terrible liar."

He shook his head and glanced out of the window, before remembering their room was deep inside the presidential palace. Laguna had been resolute. "It's just been hard sleeping."

"Why?"

He folded before her relentless advance. "Well…" He told her everything. He kept watching her expression as it went through patience, to disbelief, to mild irritation, to thoughtfulness as he talked. Finally he finished, and just looked at her. _Well?_

Rinoa sat back in the bed and sighed. The silence stretched to breaking point. "It sounds…I don't know. But that's not normal Squall, I know _that_, okay." She slid out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe. He opened his mouth to ask but she beat him to it. "Get dressed, we're going to wake up the others."

"Rin, I really don't think it's a big deal. We've all been under a lot of stress, it's probably n-"

She spun around to look at him. "Don't say it's nothing Squall." He reached out to her and she brushed his hand away as she dressed. "We've been through too much for that." She brushed a tear from her eye. "Laguna's flashbacks, time compression, wherever Shiva took us through from Deling to Garden, so _don't_ just say these dreams are normal!" She was practically shouting at him now.

He reached an arm across her and held her tight, and this time she didn't push him away. "It'll be fine, I promise." He felt her shudder next to him.

"Quistis said the same thing Squall and then she died. She just…that morning she was with us and we were all together and then the next day…I just can't take that. I had her blood on my _hands_ Squall. I'm not going to let it happen again, just because we didn't _think _it was anything." She shook her head as if trying to dislodge the images within. "Is this all there is now, for us?" She turned and looked into his eyes. "Just one crisis after another and we're all just…worn away one by one?"

"That won't happen Rin." He felt a tightness in his chest as he answered her. "I promise. I won't allow it." _Hyne, if all the priests and old wives' tales are right and you really are up there, of all the promises I've made in life let me keep this one._

The knock at the door ended their discussion, and Rinoa pushed Squall away to answer it.

"Yo."

When Rinoa answered Seifer the fear in her voice had vanished. "You're Laguna's errand boy now?"

The man shrugged. "Nothing better to do until nightfall. Speaking of which…"

_Get some sleep. We're all night owls from here on out,_ had been Laguna's response after greeting them. _We're going to have a lot more of this ahead of us before we're through with this, I can feel it in my bones. Rest, we'll talk again at sundown._

Squall caught Rinoa looking at him pointedly and sighed. "We've had some trouble. _I've_. Had some trouble." He sighed inwardly as the familiar smirk spread across Seifer's face and cut him off before he could speak. "Go wake up the others, we've got some things to say."

The smirk faded as Seifer stared him down. "You've been seeing something." Squall nodded without asking how he knew. Everyone already knew the story about Ellone. After that there was very little any of them were willing to dismiss out of hand. The blonde man checked his watch. "Well, we have a few minutes 'till sunset. Let's get to work."

* * *

"Still not adjusted huh?"

Kiros smiled grimly and nodded at Zell as he took a long draw from his cup. Those who hadn't been in on the ground floor – so to speak – were still adjusting to the schedules of those who had arrived on the Ragnarok. Even Zell Selphie and Irvine, who had at least been able to rest with Esthar's troops on their doorstep, were trying to stay awake.

_If they attacked now they'd find half of us asleep,_ Squall thought ruefully as he tapped the table. Truth be told he'd have preferred to do this some place other than the presidential palace but Laguna had insisted that none of them should leave it during the night, and to be honest he hadn't argued with the quasi-order too hard. Only himself, Rinoa, Seifer and Siren were anywhere near ready to fight. Li, Leonard and Almas had went back to Dollet, to prepare their own city for whatever storm was coming to their shores.

"So what's this all about Squall?" Alone among his staff the Estharian president looked alert and focussed as he stared at Squall across the room.

Squall cleared his throat as tired gazes swung to face him. "Well…" He told them as much as he dared, leaving out details wherever he could, although he could have swore there was a slight smirk on Irvine's face when the tall cowboy saw Rinoa blushing to his side.

"Dreams and nightmares huh?" Zell said as he looked out at the sunset, the bright disc in the sky edging down closer to the horizon, sliced into thin slivers by the Esthar skyscrapers. "Sounds familiar."

Kiros shook his head, as if all the talk of unreal things was just some irrational children jumping at shadows. Of all the people in the room save Laguna he knew best the power of dreams that he himself had once been subjected to. "I don't understand," he said. "I guess I've just grown too old for this magic show." He waved away Selphie's protests. "I prefer things I can touch."

"You can touch these things Kiros, they're real enough trust me," Seifer muttered, looking out of the windows as the final rays of light disappeared from the skyline. Even though the window was airtight he imagined he could feel a cold breeze washing through the room. He stood and looked over at Squall. "I'm going down there. Let me know when we find some bastard I can kill to stop this, okay?" The others watched as he stalked from the room.

"Well, he doesn't waste time arguing points at least."

Squall felt Rinoa lean into him as he talked and felt better for the anchor. He felt lightheaded, like the air had been drained out of the room. "So what do we do now?" He looked around the room at the others. Everyone was tired and it made him irrationally angry. "I don't see where we can start with this."

"Can we take one alive?" Zell asked with a hopeful note in his voice.

Squall was about to spit a reply back at the man when he felt Rinoa's hand on his shoulder and calmed down. "I- No. No."

"Who's the songstress?" Selphie asked suddenly. She looked around at the others as they looked around. She shrugged. "It just sounded strange is all. I don't know anyone I ever called that. Squall?"

He copied the gesture. He had no idea either. He'd barely registered the phrase, only mentioning it for the sake of completeness. "No idea." He looked the window at the steadily-deepening darkness over the city. It reminded him of Deling. The swarms of tiny moving lights whenever he had stayed in Esthar were gone as people were told to stay indoors and close their shutters. They were replaced by only the dull black of empty streets. He felt a distant sadness at the scene, Esthar's lights had been one of the few constants in his life, unchanged even during the Sorceress and Esper Wars, and the message it sent of a cowed populace hurt him.

"I know who it is."

He was knocked out of his reverie as Siren spoke up for the first time during the meeting. The young woman – he had trouble even thinking of her as a Guardian anymore, so much she resembled any other person he knew, albeit with more grace than he knew he'd ever manage – looked back at them, and he noticed her hand seemed to almost unconsciously go to her neckline where a shining golden pendant hung. "Siren?"

"It's me."

* * *

"Long day sir?"

Seifer looked around at the young soldier. He looked barely out of his teens. "Something like that." He leaned against the walls of the palace and looked out over the now-dark city, only the bright still-lit pillars of the militia watchtowers visible at the city's rim. _I'll never get used to this creepy city._ For all the poise Seifer kept up in the presence of others and all Laguna's talk about the future of mankind there was something inhuman about Esthar that unnerved him. Maybe it was the sheer impersonality of the city, the uneasy feeling of being in a city he just wasn't suited for. Let Leonhart and Rinoa stay here in their metal cocoon, he'd choose Deling's gritty but oh-so-much-more _real _sights to the things he'd seen in Esthar. A passing Esthar soldier waved at him in the dark and he nodded back curtly, lost in thought. He still chafed being under Laguna's command, but he owed the man too much to simply walk away from-

_Wait a minute. _"Hey, you," he said to the man standing next to him as he turned to see the patrol that had just walked past him towards the palace.

"What's that sir?" the reply came in a respectful tone Seifer recognised all too well from watching people react to The Great Leonhart.

"Who were those guys who just passed us?"

"Guard change." The man frowned. "A bit early but…"

Seifer could have kicked himself. _You idiot! What the hell are you doing standing around like a god damn rookie! _"HEY!" he screamed, already turning to go after the passing Esthar patrol as they came out of the darkness and into the palace lights.

The darkness followed them, and then everything happened at once.

Seifer spun around to face the confused guard already lifting a finger to point in disbelief at the black shadow-soldiers as the one Seifer had addressed lifted a hand and _waved_ at him

"Hey-"

as it reached down for it's weapon the same time as Seifer was looking past the young man at the alarm button on the wall and thinking _too far to run_ as

"-that isn't-"

the black creature opened its mouth and made a hissing sound that made chills run down his spine, and he was reaching for his gunblade and gathering all his strength to

"-the patrol-"

hurl it as hard as he could. It swung past the guard and buried itself almost to the hilt in the alarm button and the sudden sound of sirens drowned out the thing's dull hiss as Seifer spun back to face the enemy

"-for this-"

as they drew their own weapons, and he was left unarmed facing them as the young Esthar guard finally finished his sentence.

"-night."

_God damnit._

* * *

It seemed to Squall like he was jumping up almost before the alarm had sounded, like he had known somewhere in his soldier's heart this was coming.

"We're under attack."

Kiros reacted instantly but Laguna was faster and dodged out of the way before the black man could grab and drag him to safety. "Laguna…"

The president tapped a key on the wall and figures cascaded down the display. "Front entrance alarm." He looked up at the others. "They're here." He looked around and when next he spoke it was in a tone that brooked no argument. "Squall, Zell, go back up the entrance guards. Selphie, Irvine, patrol the city." He looked around. "Siren, Rinoa, with me. We're going to the labs."

"God damnit old man…" Kiros sighed in resignation and turned to whisper to an aide as footsteps pattered across the corridor outside the room. In the distance they could hear the dull whirr of massive machinery as barriers came down. "Swear to Hyne you'll be the death of me."

Laguna just grinned. "Quiet Kiros. Go find Ward and make yourselves useful." He looked around the table. "Let's go."

* * *

Zell went through the doors so hard they almost came off their hinges. "We're here to-" His voice trailed off as he caught side of the scene in front of him.

"Took your damn time."

Seifer threw aside the blade he was holding and it bounced across the door with a dull un-metallic thud. He wiped his hands off on his jacket, leaving black stains behind hat began to fade even as he stood up and walked towards Zell and Squall, who just stared.

The bodies of the shadow-soldiers lay scattered across the ground of the entrance lobby, decaying rapidly into nothing. One almost looked like it had cut in two, another as if some massive force had caved in its head (_which_, thought Squall, _was probably what happened)._ All of them gleamed a sick black colour under the glow of the Esthar lamps.

"Over here."

The two men approached Seifer, and Zell drew back a step when he saw what he was looking down at. One of the creatures lay pinned to the wall by its own blade. "Is it…" He reached out a hand. The thing reacted whip-fast and a black hand shot out in a claw at Zell's face. "God's sake Seifer!"

Seifer ignored him as he motioned Squall closer. "Thought you might be interested in this one."

Squall stared down and it only took a second for recognition to cross his mind, albeit more a flash of annoyance rather than fear. They had crossed paths enough times for the face to be memorable, eve distorted and barely-recognisable through whatever magical black force was keeping the man together. "Biggs?" _Not this asshole again._

Zell squinted and looked closer. _"That_ guy? I thought he quit?"

"He did. But watch." Seifer kicked the creature and it responded with a flailing grasp for his boot and emitted a hiss that made Squall shudder.

"They _talk_?" Zell asked in distaste.

"Just this one." Seifer kicked it again and something in Squall's stomach rebelled at the rattling sound that emerged from the thing's excuse for a mouth.

"Just kill it." He looked away as Seifer obliged and tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just seen. He'd never really held any malice against Biggs or Wedge, two soldiers who'd had the bad luck to run into them more than the average Galbadian soldier and skilled enough to escape with their lives every time. Just a couple of scouts chosen to… "Seifer?"

Seifer was trying to pull the clothes from the dead man but his hands only came away with black handfuls of something that flowed through his hands like mud. Whatever they were made of lost its shape quickly after the 'mind' died. "Hmm?"

"You worked in Galbadia for a while. How did Galbadians set up diversions?"

"Well usually they sent a small force to distract the enemy while the main body went aroun…_SHIT!"_

* * *

The lab was a wreck. Whatever force had attacked it had been merciless and _fast_, faster than anything Rinoa had ever heard of. From leaving the presidential palace to arriving at the lab they had taken no more than five minutes. Whatever had burst in through those steel doors and slaughtered everything in sight was long gone. Her only thought now was seeing if there was anything left to salvage.

She ignored Siren and Laguna's pleas to wait and was running into the labs, head turning this way and that trying to look every way at once and at the same time none of the bodies. Still flashes came to her as she changed direction in the winding corridors and caught glimpses of thankfully still-masked soldiers pinned to the walls with white lances through their faceplates, or chests crushed into red pulp by the fist of an angry god. Finally the paths ran out and she stopped out of breath even as something in her heart shouted at her to keep moving.

"_I SAID WAIT!" _Laguna caught up, breathless, Siren trailing behind and looking worried. "Theres…nothing left…up here…" he gasped out. He leaned against the wall. "You kids these days…"

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry I just…" She tried to put her panic into words and failed. "Sorry."

Laguna smiled and risked a pat on the shoulder and then to the elevator controls. "Take it slow. Haste will get you killed." His steady voice and calm body-language didn't match the death scattered around them. Only his eyes that never stopped moving around the room and one hand tight on the machine-gun in his hand showed his true face. He stepped into the elevator as it arrived on the floor with a cheery _ping_, ignoring the bloodstains within.

Siren perked up as the metal box descended. "Do you hear that?"

The dull sound of fighting could be heard below, noises Rinoa could have went the rest of her life without hearing as metal collided with metal and the ever-present buzz of men shouting in anger and pain. As they went down the sound seemed to increase and almost resonate within her chest as she resisted the urge to put her hands over her ears, as if blocking the noise out would make it simply not be happening past the doors. She felt Laguna and Siren staring at her and realised she was breathing hard. "I'll be fine." She poised herself to jump out of the elevator as the tiny light ticked its way down to the bottom floor. She needn't have bothered.

Blood cascaded into the tiny box as the doors slid open and the Esthar soldier fell inside. Rinoa was already reaching down to catch him when she felt Laguna's hand on her lapel and was dragged away from the middle of the elevator as something invisible and _fast_ went past her face close enough for her to feel the wind. The icicle lance smashed into the metal of the elevator and left a fist-sized dent as it shattered.

Laguna was already shouting. "Siren!" The woman nodded and suddenly the metal coffin was filled with lights. Laguna dragged Rinoa out of the elevator by her jacket while the enemy was (hopefully, please Hyne let her be) blinded, and was relieved when no more deadly shards were sent their way. "We have to get through to Odine's lab."

"Odine?"

"Who else would they be here for- Is that you?"

Rinoa looked around for the source of the hissing sound and met Shiva's blackened eyes. _But where did she- _She tried to move her hands to guard her face, move her legs to _get away_ but her brain refused to move as she stared into those dead and soulless eyes and a hand reached out for her heart. _Not like this._

"_NO!" _A fistful of light and force hit Shiva in the head and she reeled backwards as the Guardian threw herself across the room and into her 'sister'. Shiva's hiss turned into a screech and she jumped backwards, sending Siren into the wall with a bone-crunching thud. Siren gasped and fell back and barely missed the lance that swiped through the air near her head. The black Guardian was already drawing back for a second strike when Laguna's bullets finally found their mark, peppering holes across her body. Rinoa watched as her once-friend spun to shout a death-rattle at the man. _It's not her anymore._ She looked back and felt the power rising up inside but before she could do anything else Shiva was gone, with as much warning as her arrival, leaving a shaken Sorceress, a very confused Estharian president and a coughing and wounded Siren. The lightning-fast assault hadn't taken more than a few seconds.

"I don't believe it," Laguna muttered as he lifted a wincing Siren from the floor. Something in her body made a sick _click_ sound and she cried out in pain. The sound of gunfire could still be heard from somewhere in the distance in that maze of laboratories and metal corridors. To Rinoa the entire complex seemed like one giant claustrophobic maze. "Rin, help Siren." Laguna checked his weapon. "I'm going to find Odine."

"Not alone, you-"

He cut her off. "I've been a soldier a lot longer than you Mrs Leonhart. Help your friend."

"How are you going to find him in this maze?" she asked.

Laguna shrugged. "I'll follow the screams."

* * *

The remnants of black shapes surrounded Odine's lab. Unfortunately for Laguna's sanity Odine wasn't in it.

"_Ha! Take zat! And zis!"_

He stopped in the corridor for a moment, gobsmacked beyond the ability to do anything but watch, as the devices in Odine's hands shot liquid death at the attackers. The black shapes attacking ignored the messy demise of their comrades and continued their mindless forward assault as first they were covered in something Laguna didn't recognise, and then the rough collection of metal in Odine's other hand shot lightning and the shadow-soldiers were consumed in fire. He could see the scorch-marks on the wall.

"Ah! Mizter Pressident!" Odine's deluge of fire only stopped for a moment as he saw him enter through the side door of the laboratory. Every surface of the room was covered in chunks of metal, wiring in all the colours of the rainbow, and bottles filled with some foul-smelling liquid he didn't even want to approach, never mind handle. "It'z good you are here, I wass almost out of fuel." The tiny scientist _click_ed off the harnesses holding the array of devices to his chest and bodily threw them down amongst the recovering attackers. Laguna didn't even need to be told to take cover, his hindbrain already telling him what anything Odine threw around was likely to do.

When the dust cleared and had Laguna had stood and brushed himself off it was to find Odine already packing. "Doctor, are you-"

"I'm fine! Which iz more than can be said for ze magical hordes!" Odine waved a hand behind him and Laguna followed it as far as he could see, which wasn't far. The explosion of whatever the man had been mixing had taken out the door to the lab, most of the corridor beyond, and anything that had been in it. All that remained was ruined steel and rock, with bloodstains and black sludge covering anything that had once been the floor. "Of course I am ready to leave, off we go." He patted a small backpack.

Laguna shrugged off the urge to demand explanations. They never helped. "I have to look for other-"

The doctor cut him off, not unkindly: "My dear leader I must regretfully say zat I am the only survivor. Zhey came when ze staff was asleep."

"Where were _you?"_

Odine looked at him like a parent telling a small child something he should have known. "In ze labs." _Where else?_ his expression said. He brushed past Laguna. "I have vhat I need. Now, escape!"

Laguna found himself just shaking his head and following the man as he brushed his way past rubble and corpses towards the elevator where Rinoa was waiting and checked his watch. Dawn was still a very long way away.

* * *

"_RIN!"_

Squall felt his heart almost give out in relief as the steel doors slid aside to reveal Rinoa. She spun around at his voice and the look of fear on her face turned to joy. "Squall!"

Under any other circumstances he would have ran into her arms. He settled for a quick hug. "What's happening?" He looked down at Siren. "Are you both alright?"

"Shiva," was all Siren had to say weakly through gritted teeth.

Rinoa turned back to Squall. "We're waiting for-"

"Me!" Odine came around the corner laden with packs, Laguna behind and trying to look in every direction at once. Squall raised an eyebrow at the man. _How many?_

_Less now_, Laguna shrugged in response. "There were a few dozen in here," he began as they all crowded back into the elevator. "Odine managed to kill almost all of them using…you know what I don't even pretend to know what he makes down here."

"Just a few trinkets," the small man said offhand, as if hand-sized gadgets that could ruin buildings and kill by the dozen were mere toys. "_Zis_ is our prize." He pushed a hand into the pack at his side and brought out a marvel.

The magikiller sphere was no longer just a grey shape in his hands, it's innate power to devour magic invisible to the human eye. Now it looked like it could work a miracle. Colours ran over the surface of the metal ball like oil on water, bouncing off some unnatural interior angle or turning in right-angles as if it was transparent and filled with interior partitions and walls. Even as Odine held it the colours seemed to almost bleed out of it and onto his palm. As he watched it seemed to drink up the light in the small elevator and throw it back out with twice the force until the small chamber was filled with multi-coloured light. Squall found himself abruptly lost in it as he stared. Siren averted her eyes and surreptitiously put Squall between herself and it.

"They were after it?" Laguna asked. His own eyes were locked onto the globe as well, but Squall could have swore there was distaste and not wonder in his eyes.

Odine tapped it. "Ze ozzer two have been stolen, ze smaller orbs. Logic dictates zhey would come for zhis one next."

Something in Squall's memory tapped at his brain to be heard. "Where were the other two sphere held?"

Odine looked up at the ex-Seed. "Dollet of course, ze Duchess requested zat she have one for-"

"And Galbadia?" The tiny tap was now an insistent pummelling.

A shrug. "Of course."

Squall's eyes met Seifer's and the other man nodded as the doors swung open. "That's what they were after. They wanted the magikiller device." He turned back to Odine. "Doctor what use could this stuff be? If you wanted to do something with it?" _And had no morals._

The genius scientist looked thoughtful for a second. "Why, anything you wanted." He tapped the sphere again. "All ze prana of ze Garden alumni, ze Galbadian attackers, ze prana from ze Espers, Ze last Blue remnants of the late Mz Trepe, all of ze magical power zat was in ze world is now contained within. Zhat is why it glows so." He tossed it from one hand to another and Squall resisted the urge to just plain grab it from him. "Billions upon billions of particles. What could you do with it? Maybe you would want to pluck ze stars down from zhe sky? Maybe you dislike ze shape of ze world and would prefer it to be another? Maybe you wish to shape universes?"

"Maybe you wish to be gods?"

The full enormity of what Odine was saying broke through Squall's ignorance and screamed at him. _Dear Hyne, all the magical power from everyone on Garden, all the power of the Espers. There's nothing we couldn't do with it. _He looked down at the sphere in Odine's hand and the desire to just pick it up and throw it far, far away, to just somehow wash his hands of the whole bloody mess, was almost a physical thing. _All the power in the world inside something small enough to hold. If other people know about this there'd be no end to war. _He could look forward and see the glorious peaceful future he had envisioned crumbling before him._ Everyone would want it; there'd never be a way to_ stop_ people wanting it. All it would take is one bad man to get hold of it and that would be it._

Then the other thought slid forward, like a brightly-coloured fish darting past a huge shark to get his attention, and his heart sank. _Somebody already knows._

He put a hand on the short man's shoulder. "Odine, could what we're fighting be products of the stolen spheres? Someone using the power inside them to create these creatures and send them against us?"

The man shrugged. "Of course."

Laguna was the first to break the silence. "You're _kidding." _Squall could see the same thoughts running through Laguna's mind and coming to the same conclusion. Dreams and plans collapsing and re-focussing on the inevitable future, all based around the tiny object. Laguna went on: "Of _course_ they are. Why wouldn't they be! God, I've been such a fool."

To the surprise of the others it was Seifer who spoke up to defend the man: "Laguna, you couldn't have known that-"

"I _gave_ them away! Hyne, what was I thinikng? I could have just kept them all here, kept them safe in Esthar but- _DAMNIT!"_ He kicked the wall hard enough to leave a dent in the metal. He took a deep breath and when his eyes opened there was something colder and harder in them. "When we get back to the palace we're making a list. Of people who knew. I'm not going to let this one go." The ice in his voice made Squall wince. Until something else made him want to shiver.

"_That's far enough."_

They stopped dead at the voice that came from the darkness of the lobby ahead. Between them and the doors.

Black shapes coalesced out of nothing in front of them and Squall saw Shiva's outline holding one of her icicle-lances. The second figure stood cloaked in blackened rags, but for all that Squall could see the menace radiating from the hidden figure, and the dull screech of old hate in its voice. His gunblade was ready behind him even before the shape had stopped speaking and the clicks and scrapes of moving meal behind him told him his friends and comrades were doing the same.

Shiva cocked her head sideways and stepped back, responding to some unheard command, as the cloaked figure stood forward and raised a hand, and Squall heard Rinoa gasp as the tattered rags fell away. Footsteps sounded across the room and more shapes appeared from the shadows. They were surrounded.

Raw flesh stood out blood-red in the darkness of the lobby, like someone had skinned it and done a terrible job. Discoloured veins pumped blood along the surface where blackened armour cracked and moved on the arm to reveal and obscure the hideous wounds. That was nothing to compare with the voice. In its dull hiss Squall could hear all the hatred of all the enemies he'd ever fought, all directed at him. He stepped forward in a trance, his brain denying something which his heart already knew was true.

"You."

The hand reached back and threw off the cloak into Shiva's arms. Whatever Squall had been prepared for it was worse. Like a man that had been skinned alive and then placed into a suit of armour and then put into an oven. Black metal moved with the rhythms of the thing's breath revealing red innards bright against the darkness of the outer layers. One eye was in the thing's head, the remains of some decorative outcropping at the top laying alone as the other half of the thing's face lay ruined as cracks and craters ran through the head and down and across the man's body. A black leather tatter of cloak extended from his and hung there swaying with his movement. Except it wasn't armour, or a cloak. It was back carapace and broken wings.

"You should have died in Garden," Squall whispered through gritted teeth.

"_Ah, If only wishing would make it so,_" Diablos replied.


	39. Black Grasping Hands

"_I'm going to tell you something, something I've wanted to tell you ever since we met inside that stupid lamp."_

"What?"

"_I hate SeeDs."_

"Wow. We would never have guessed."

Squall tried to look every way at once as the shadows swarmed around the group, trapped with an empty elevator shaft to their backs and a black mass of faceless demons in front of them, a circle that could snap shut and overwhelm them in a moment if the man in front of them commanded it. If he even was a man.

"_You're so god damn stubborn. Even killing one of you was such a chore."_ Squall's hands tightened around his gunblade and Diablos' ruined mouth twisted in what could have been a sneer. _"At least I made sure that one wasn't going to bother anyone anymore, unless you've got some magic that can cure being gutted like a fish."_

"What do you want?" Laguna asked, and Squall could hear the violence in the old man's voice just aching to burst forth.

Diablos shrugged. Behind him Shiva shifted from foot to foot. _"You _know_."_ He reached out a hand. "_Throw it over and you'll have a fairly painless death. If not…"_ His other hand swept across the massed ranks of shadowbodies. _"I can tell them to keep you alive for a long, long time."_

"Like you kept Melanthios alive?"

Another shrug. Diablos grinned, plainly having fun taunting the trapped humans. _"He was worthless. Just a washed-up monster. He gave me enough power though. Enough to replace some of what that bitch took. And he knew where _this_ was." _They watched as the Guardian drew something white and shining out from behind his back. The small magikiller sphere resembled their own shining gem, but grimmer and pale like some illness was afflicting the metal._ "Isn't it gorgeous?"_

Squall's mind raced as the Guardian talked. No way out in front, not against the massed ranks of Diablos' black army, and only a ruined lab below them. Die in a useless charge or die below in the dark, hunted like rats through the broken laboratories. He glanced across at Rinoa. His wife was looking calmly at Diablos, only her fists clenching and unclenching and a slight frown any sign of the power she was trying to keep under control. Squall resisted the urge to tell her to just _let it all go_. He didn't trust Sorcery. That the army in front of them would crumble he had no doubt. Whether they would be spared from the maelstrom he didn't know, and wouldn't risk. _Just keep him talking, keep him talking 'till Selphie and Zell can realise something's wrong and bring help. Just let him talk._

_Hyne knows he loves the sound of his own voice._

Laguna clearly had the same idea. "What's the endgame in this for you?" the president asked.

"_A throne."_

"Just another petty tyrant?"

Diablos snarled and Squall's heart skipped a beat. _Just don't piss him off _too_ much!_ "_What else is there?"_

Laguna snorted and put his hands in his pockets, the image of collected calm. "So that pair of monsters died and you saw your chance and grabbed for it huh?"

"Does Bahamut know?" Siren asked.

"_Would he care?"_ Diablos shot back immediately. He shook his ruined head and held out a hand. "_Last chance. Now-"_ He stopped mid-sentence as he saw Squall raise his gunblade and keep it poised over their own shining orb. _"You don't want to do that."_

"Then let us go and we won't."

"_It won't work. You think a hunk of metal can destroy pure magical force?"_

But Squall noted the flinch in Diablos' one red eye when he moved his blade closer to the magikiller sphere and knew he had him. "You're not _sure_ though, are you?"

For a few seconds the two groups stared at each other. On one side the humans with their one precious bargaining chip, a godlike metal ball of energy powerful enough to make the wielder a king. On the other a writhing mass of black creatures in the shape of men, commanded by the fallen Guardian and his slave-retainer. Squall felt a bead of sweat threatening to form on his forehead and commanded his body to stay calm. _If we back down here it's over._

Of all the memories Squall would carry through his life, the moment when Diablos gave a tiny sneer and snapped his fingers and the dark tide of warriors moved aside to form a path would be one he'd remember with relief. His eyes stared into the Guardian's and he knew he had won. As a group and without a word they walked away. Rinoa paused for a single second to look into Shiva's eyes, but all that looked back was detachment. Squall kept his eyes on the thing and his gunblade raised near the magikiller sphere as they passed. Black shadows leaned in towards it as they passed and it felt like hours before the rows and rows of soldiers ended and only desert stretched before them.

"_LEONHART!"_

Squall looked back to see Diablos staring at him.

"_You can't protect the world. Sooner or later you'll come crawling back begging for what I offered."_

Anger and humiliation ran through Squall's blood as he replied. "I'd rather die than beg to you." He sheathed his gunblade as Rinoa gestured for him to get into the car. Either Diablos had been supremely confident of killing them in the labs or his soldiers hadn't been up to the task because the vehicles were undamaged. "We'll beat you, like we beat everything else."

"_I'll cover the world in darkness before the year is out, ape. Your cities will burn, your pathetic race will bow before me, and you will be there to watch."_

"_I have only just begun to fuck with you."_

* * *

The ride back passed in silence. Several times Squall watched as Seifer opened his mouth to say something, before settling back down again to stare at the bright lights of the city. From a distance it seemed as if every source of illumination was switched on, a populace under siege trying to keep the dark out in any way they could. They met up with Selphie and Irvine on the outskirts of the government district. The young woman was leaning against a lamppost, her nunchucks hanging limp from her hands and dripping black ichor onto the ground. She looked exhausted but when she heard their approach and turned to see who was coming her face lit up. "Guys!" She ran up to Rinoa and almost lifted her up off the ground.

"Had some trouble?" Squall asked the tall man sat on the side of the transparent road.

Irvine smiled as he stood and dusted down his coat. All he succeeded in doing was smearing black paste over the clean parts of his jacket. "Nothing we couldn't handle. You?"

Squall looked over the city as the sun began to rise. "Tell you on the way home." He felt Rinoa squeeze his hand. _Home, huh?_ A sudden rush of memory. He'd spent all his life in other people's places. The orphanage, growing up with everyone, under the eyes of the Kramers. Living inside Balamb Garden, moving from twin dorm to single room to apartment, but all cocooned within the self-contained world that had been the military academy. Time spent during SeeD missions, the Sorceress and Esper wars in hotels and on the road, catching sleep wherever he could. _Is that how you want the rest of your life to go?_ "Esthar's home now then?"

_It's as good a home as you could hope to find Squall,_ he could see the unsaid phrase in Rinoa's eyes. He nodded once and her smile told him all he needed to know of her thoughts. He looked up at the others. "We've got some things to talk about."

SCENE BREAK

Zell stared at the ball, resting on the steel table. Even under the low lighting it seemed to drink up the photons, spitting them out like a kaleidoscope. "So this is what everyone's after huh?" He looked up at Odine. "No offence doc but why does everything you make seem to do this to us?" They were sat around an old wooden table, in a room buried so deeply inside the Esthar presidential palace that Laguna had had to ask directions from Kiros. It was covered in wooden carvings and where the walls showed beneath the decoration marbled stone could be spotted. It looked out-of-place among Esthar's high-tech miracles, but Laguna had insisted they retreat and take the glowing sphere to the safest part of the city.

The scientist bridled at Zell's accusation and stood so fast his chair almost fell backwards, ruffled clothes floating about him. The effect wasn't unlike a peacock being threatened. "Ze fault liez with ze wielder, not ze invention!"

"Why don't we focus less on who's to blame and more on what we can do about it?" Kiros said quickly, ever the peacemaker.

"Diablos survived Balamb Garden," Irvine said flatly. He was staring at the magikiller sphere with faint distaste. "He was always a sneak, even when he was working for us. He finally got sick of being under Bahamut's thumb, and when he tracked down Melanthios he saw his chance." He gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Tenacious bastard I'll give him that."

Kiros turned to Siren. "What _does_ Bahamut think about all this?"

Siren's reply was instant. "He won't care."

Kiros wasn't convinced. "He's fought beside us before, what's to say that-"

Seifer was the one to interrupt the older man's flow. "That dragon fought with us because he wouldn't have survived Time Compression any better than we would have. He couldn't give a rat's ass about us down here. So long as Diablos doesn't get any ideas about ruling Guardians Bahamut will do two things; nothing and zip." He turned to look at Siren. "Am I right?"

Siren hesitated for a second, as if not totally sure of her answer, but finally she was forced to nod in agreement. "He'll stay to the sideline, and order us to as well."

"Even if Shiva is under Diablos' control?" Rinoa asked.

When Siren next spoke the bitterness was clear in the young woman's voice: "She was loyal to him. He might mourn her, for a second. Then forget."

Laguna tapped the wooden desk and checked his watch. "Daylight." He leaned back in the high-backed chair and closed his eyes in concentration. "What's to stop us using the orbs again, like we did in Balamb Garden? Put them inside the _Ragnarok,_ call T-Garden back here and hook it up. Hover over Diablos until he's sucked up and dead." He looked over at Odine. "Why won't that work?"

Odine preened as he saw the attentions of the room focus on him. "Ze orbz are _full_ of course. Why do you think zhey look the way zhey do?" He picked up the glowing sphere and hit it lightly against the table. Laguna flinched. "Ze total magics of ze world. Ze other orbs are mere toys compared to it. Minor reservoirs taken from ze ocean."

"We got lucky," Squall muttered. _If they'd sent this one to Deling or Dollet instead of one of the others we'd have lost already._ The thought made him shudder. "Is there some way we can use the magic inside?" he asked. "You say this one is stronger than the other two. Why can't we do something with it?" He raised a hand and gestured trying futilely to get some point across. "Hyne I don't know, hook it up to a giant gun or something. Isn't this your speciality?"

Odine went on oblivious. "Ze power leaks out slowly, enough to be used without overvhelming ze being we call 'Diablos'. Yet even zis leak is strong enough to create ze army of shadows attacking us now. It iz unlikely a human could do ze same."

"Then let me," Siren said. "I'm a Guardian like Diablos. If he can use it so can I."

"Like a full-course feast to a man dying of starvation," Odine retorted. "Forgive me lady but any fool can see you are not what you once were. Ze surge would kill you."

"So destroy it," Kiros said.

"Vhat will happen if a bag of water is pricked with a pin?" Odine shook his head. "It bursts, Mister Prezzident. It bursts and all your clothes are ruined."

"Which means?"

"Of ze orb detonating or ze moon crashing into ze earth, I vhould not bet on which would be worse. Assuming anyvone survived either scenario."

For a moment there was silence in the old room as they all just sat and stared at the small orb in front of them. Even laid still on the table the forces inside it roiled and moved, throwing off strange reflections and colours. It wasn't some inscrutable sorceress with incomprehensible goals, or a power-mad general with dreams of world dominance, or even a mad creature seeking to destroy humanity for some ancient revenge. It was just an object, a collected mass of magic with no feeling or goal or consciousness. It merely existed. Yet there wasn't one person sitting in that room who didn't hate it as it sat there, taunting them with its utter invulnerability.

Laguna was the first to speak, and as he did so Squall noticed his eyes flick over to his wife. He prepared himself for what he knew the man would ask next.

"Rinoa, I hate to-"

"No," Squall said quickly. He raised a hand to stop Laguna's objection, his argument already formed. "Rinoa's power isn't some tap you can just turn on or off _mister president_," he said clearly.

Help came from Irvine. "If you want to rely on Sorcery Laguna we may as well just blow us all up now and save Diablos the time."

Laguna just sat quietly for a second. Without warning the man slammed his fist on the table. "Then _what can we do_?" he almost shouted. "Do we just sit here and guard this thing night after night against those monsters? And do what, hope that after enough time that sneaky bastard just _gets bored_ and gives up? Because from what the good doctor says we've got nothing we can use against these guys. Nothing at all."

"Sure we do."

All heads turned as the voice came from the other end of the table. Zell grinned sheepishly as he found himself the centre of attention. "Sure we do."

"Zell if you know something that-" Squall stopped speaking as he realised what Zell was saying.

Laguna looked from the grinning blonde to Squall, now just staring down the table, eyes unfocussed. "What? _What?"_

"We still have weapons. At least two."

Laguna frowned in concentration for a moment before sighing, somewhere between relief and exasperation. He turned to Kiros. "Please get in contact with Dollet. We have a message for the duchess," he said, as Zell tossed his metal-reinforced knuckles up and down in the air. The weapons he had used to kill an Esper, formed out of the same magikiller steel as the orb before them, but unlike it still voracious for magic.

Seifer looked from Zell to the rest of the room in disbelief. "Please tell me we're not leaving the security of the world in the hands of this oaf."

* * *

Squall watched the sun rise over Esthar. "Well, it's not nothing," he whispered almost to himself. He felt a hand move over his and looked across at Rinoa. "Now we just need to figure out what we can do with them." He turned back to face the dawn from the top level of the palace. _Are you out there somewhere, laughing at us?_ He felt a surge of anger towards the creature that threatened them. _Do it while you can._ He turned to the person behind him. "So, we can talk now?"

Siren was hesitant as she looked at the pair. From Rinoa she felt only the familiar tug of power as the Sorcery inside her at once fed her existence in the material plane and tried to drag her into its maelstrom and consume her. From Squall she felt something else entirely. All she wanted to do was climb into a bed somewhere and rest, but the man had practically dragged her aside as they had left the room and asked for a moment of time. "What is it Squall?"

"We have to talk."

* * *

_From Zell's ray of hope things had gone quickly._

"_Diablos is the key," Kiros said as he leaned forward, his intensity clear. "If we can kill him and recover the orbs we can end this whole mess. After that we can just throw the orbs into space or something."_

"_He'll stay nearby, in Esthar. For when he wins," Seifer said curtly. "He'll want to gloat and talk and tell us all how much smarter and better than us he is."_

_Laguna turned to Siren next. "What's to stop him just disappearing if he loses? He's done it once before."_

_Siren could not nothing except put her hands up and look apologetic. "I…I can't think of anything. The only thing stopped us coming and going back to our home in the Esper War was the Espers finding us. Now that they're gone he can come and go as he pleases, if the person junctioning him has enough power."_

"_Find the person who's junctioning him," Laguna said. "Convince him to stop."_

"_You could trap him in the Guardian world," Seifer said quickly. He looked at the blonde woman. "Can we destroy Guardians in whatever fairy-land you people have for a home?"_

_Siren nodded. "We can die there. Without a willing junction he'd be unable to come back to the human world. He'd just fade away."_

"_Ze beast uses ze orb itself for his junction, is zis not obvious?" Odine said quickly. "A junction is a magical tether ze Guardian uses to keep itself in ze world. Ze orb is a perfect source, and he haz two"._

"_Shit. Well, there's that plan blown out of the water." Laguna rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. "So we're back at square one. We can't kill Diablos without destroying the orbs. We can't destroy the orbs." He threw his hands up in frustration and looked around the room. All of them were in some stage of exhaustion. He stood. "We'll sleep on it now and gather together in the morning. No idea too stupid, no plan too crazy." He grinned. "Crazy ideas got us through Time Compression; they might get us through this."_

* * *

"Siren, I remember what you said before the attack."

The young woman blinked in confusion, and was about to ask what Squall meant when the memory came back. She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just…I just forgot."

Squall leaned back against the window. "'It's me.' You're the songstress. What's that all about?"

"It was an old nickname, it…" Siren waved an arm at the city outside futilely. "It was just something I used to be called."

"By who?" The change in Siren was so abrupt Squall was surprised. The woman seemed to withdraw into herself and her expression became haunted. "Is this something-"

"It's something I can't tell you Squall. I'm sorry, I just- I _can't_."

"Is it about the Knowledge Recorder?"

Siren's head whipped up and her mouth hung open in shock. When she spoke the terror in her voice was so strong Squall felt the urge to recoil away. "_You're not supposed to know about that!"_

"Quistis told me the name." He felt Rinoa's hand leave his as his wife walked over to the Guardian and put an arm around her shoulders.

"She…I…" Siren was reduced to half-words. "She shouldn't have, it was something that _creature_ told her, she promised not to-"

"I was her commanding officer, it wouldn't occur to her _not_ to tell me." He toned down his voice and tried to sound reassuring. "We need all the help we can get Siren. Please." He spoke quietly, in just a whisper. "There's an army coming tonight Siren. It's getting bigger every night. I don't know how long we can hold them back. We need an answer."

Siren looked up into his eyes. "Just give me time."

Squall held back the urge to lash into her and instead gave a curt nod. "Just don't take long, okay?" He watched as the Guardian walked out of the room.

"That was mean Squall. She's terrified of something, anyone can see that," Rinoa said with reproach.

Squall shrugged, too tired to do anything else. The long nights were taking their toll and somehow sleeping during the day wasn't having much of a restorative effect. "We're running out of time."

Rinoa turned him to face her and smiled. "We'll find a way." She kissed him lightly and stepped back from his grasp before he could respond. "We're the heroes of the Sorceress War right? We can save the world, defeat the monster, like always."

Squall looked out of the window. The view swam before him. He could almost picture the nightfall still half a day away, the army of black shadows that would swarm up from the dark and devour the bright city before him, following the lance of someone he'd once counted as his closest ally, and all slaved to one greedy creature. "Sure."

* * *

"No."

Siren stared up at the beast and tried to think of an argument, any argument, any word or phrase or action that could affect the mind of the one before her. Nothing came up. All arguments broke against the iron wall of the dragon's will. "But-"

Bahamut reared up, wings spreading to encompass the amphitheatre at the centre of the crystal city, and stared down at Siren as he towered over her. "Their Fates Are Immaterial, The Espers Have Been Vanquished, Our Safety Is Assured. Leave Them To Their Fate."

Siren's knees felt weak underneath her. Her vision swam as she tried to get a handle on being back, back in the city of her birth. Coming back to Olesia had once been a homecoming, a place to rest and recover from being in the physical world. Now the air clung to her throat and didn't seem to be enough to sustain her. The crystal and glass spires of the city seemed insubstantial and twee beside Esthar and Galbadia's reassuring solidity. The others that walked the streets seemed to stare at her with accusations in their half-formed eyes. It felt like a prison made of lights.

Another try. She calmed herself and looked up at the twin red eyes that burned down at her. "Alex is- Alexander died. Shiva is a slave. You have to see that he'll try and take over here after-"

"_There Is Nothing To See!_ He Would Not Dare Attack Here." Wings furled and Siren held up a hand to ward off the sunlight that streamed in through the open roof. Even the light hurt. "Our Domain Is Safe And Will Remain So." The dragon's head descended towards her and Siren had a glimpse of a red inferno through the rows of teeth as his eye came down to meet hers. "Your Loyalty Is To The City And Your Own Kind And To _Me._ Finish Your Affairs And Return."

_This isn't my home anymore. _"I don't want to-" _I don't want to stay here in this city full of ghosts ruled by a mad king_. "I don't want to abandon my friends."

"Your Relationship With The Blue Magician Has Blinded You To The Truth. You Will Obey Me." Bahamut's voice wasn't a request or an order. Simply absolute assurance that he would be heard and she would follow. "Throw Thoughts Of Those Worthless Creatures From Your Mind. The City Will Survive. Naught Else Matters."

Whatever wavering loyalty she had broke at that moment. "There wouldn't be any threat to us." She took a deep breath and tried her last gambit. "We could ask the Knowledge Rec-"

She screamed and clapped hands over her eyes. Light burst around her, searing its way through her palms and eyelids and into her brain, as Bahamut snapped back inches away from her face and roared. His voice echoed through the amphitheatre and out into the city beyond.

"_DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT! IT IS FORBIDDEN!" _The dragon forced itself closer and Siren collapsed to her knees, hands over her head to protect herself from Bahamut's raw fury. "_YOU WILL DIE BEFORE YOU REVEAL IT TO THE APES. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"_

She staggered back and tried to find shelter from the blasting heat and light, nodding frantically. She clambered behind a fallen crystal-stone pillar and hid there as her lord raged. She'd never seen him so angry.

* * *

Laguna entered the room and there was a smile on his face as he did so. "The honourable duchess and her retinue would be delighted to visit the-"

"Get to the point old man," Kiros mumbled under his breath.

They were in Esthar's military HQ, an ugly squat box of a building, far out of odds with its glittering neighbours. Laguna had ordered it made after the Sorceress War had ended and the hologram walls around the city had come down, against any peoples that might have taken offence at Esthar hiding for so long, or envious about what they had, and who might have tried to take it for themselves. Kiros said the defence of Esthar during the Esper War had been run from the place and it looked like it was up to the task. Zell and Irvine had looked through the armoury after waking up and had been impressed despite themselves. Squall had caught himself thinking about its uses as a last-ditch fortress, and had scolded himself immediately.

"Yeah, they'll come, as soon as they know Dollet is safe," Laguna said, the wind knocked out of his sails. He put the phone down and the aide withdrew smoothly from the room without a sound. "And she'll bring the sword." The president shrugged. "I can't exactly ask her to drop everything and come running." He checked his watch almost unconsciously. They had all caught themselves doing it in the last few days, as if looking at the slowly-sweeping hands would somehow stop the sun in its tracks. "Nightfall's in an hour. What can we expect?"

Kiros coughed and stood. "There's a pattern, and it's a pretty obvious one." He tapped the wall and immediately it was covered with charts and graphs Squall couldn't even begin to comprehend. "Diablos is clearly still getting used to his new abilities, but he's learning fast."

"Hyne, what I'd give for a stupid enemy, just once," Seifer muttered darkly.

"He's searching for the limits of his power and he hasn't found them yet," Kiros went on. "We can expect from five to ten times more shadows tonight."

They all ran the numbers in their heads. Squall felt like something heavy had been dropped into his stomach, and felt lightheaded. The shadows at the lab they had gotten through only by desperate trickery had been uncountable. _An order of magnitude, repeated every night…they would overrun the Esthar army by sheer weight of numbers alone within a couple of weeks ._ Everyone else had clearly come to the same conclusion. Eyes dropped to stare at the floor or dimly at the numbers on the graph. Only one man didn't look disheartened.

"Manageable," Odine said as he stared at the graph.

"Doctor?" Laguna said, and his tone of voice said the rest. _Have you finally snapped?_

Odine looked around at the others. "It iz an obstacle. Nozzing more. I vill find ze weakness and once I do ze enemy shall melt away before us."

Squall thought back to the lab he had found the scientist in, hiding from Diablos' sneak-attack. Melted was probably the right word. "You're saying you can beat them?" He didn't realise he'd spoken until Odine turned to look at him.

Odine looked puzzled, as if Squall had said nonsense. "But of course. Magic iz merely a dull firework compared to ze forces at humanity's command."

Laguna coughed gently and Squall looked back to see an aide smoothly withdraw from the room. "I have some better news."

* * *

"It's good to see you."

They stood on the roof of the Army HQ. Squall stared up with a slight smile on his face. Leviathan stared back down at him."Think nothing of it commander. We are comrades, are we not?"

Squall smiled and ignored the 'commander'. "Of course. And we're glad to have you." He looked around. "No-one else?"

Leviathan's coils shook slightly and Squall realised the great serpent was shaking his head. "Nobody else would come."

"He wouldn't let them, would he?" Siren said, and everyone could hear the bitterness in her voice.

Leviathan couldn't shrug, but his voice conveyed everything he wanted to express. "Our lord has other concerns on his mind." A great eye spun around to look at the skyline. The sun was already dangerously close to the horizon. "Have you any plans commander?"

Squall shook his head. "Survive the night. Wait for help. Dollet's sending some help. Galbadia has its own problems. The Shumi seem to have gone back into their shell, so-" He stopped talking as he saw Leviathan draw back to speak.

"The Shumi cannot help anyone now, commander Leonhart."

"What do you mean?" Rinoa asked quickly.

When Leviathan responded there was a sadness in his voice Squall couldn't begin to comprehend. "The Shumi village has been destroyed commander. Swarmed and overrun by my once-brother's dark army. There is nothing left."

_My God. Just like that?_ He didn't bother asking if it was true, or whether there was anything that could be done. He felt Rinoa's hand close around his and it felt like ice. Whether anger or sadness he couldn't tell.

The dying light drew his attention as the sun sunk through the clouds. He imagined he could already hear the hissing moans coming from the gathering darkness around them and resisted the urge to shiver. "Let's get inside."

Laguna nodded. Already they could hear the dull whirrs of engines and powered walkways as Esthar's soldiers got into position. Civilians walking the streets of the city did so quickly and without a sound as they tried to get home as fast as possible.

"There's an army out there? Well, we've got an army in here too," Laguna said. "We'll make that bastard pay for every inch of ground he takes, I promise you that." He turned to Leviathan. "Will you assist us?"

If the great Guardian of the seas could have smiled he would have. "I believe the correct phrase in this situation is: Where do you wish me to be?" He turned to look at Shiva and the young woman's eyes widened. "My dear sister, we must talk."

Squall felt a stab of annoyance. _Always with the secrets. If they'd told us about the Espers we might have been able to stop them sooner. If they'd kept a leash on Diablos we might not be in this bloody mess._ He was more than a little tired of Guardian mystery. He shook the thoughts away for what they were; the wish to stab out and _do something_ rather than stand around. He clapped his hands together to get their attention. _Just like old times. _"Let's get below. We have a defence to work out."

* * *

A quiet aside. "I know what you are planning."

Shock and fear. "You…did he send you to stop me?"

Reassuring. "He does not know. I do not intend to tell him."

More than a little relief. "I…thanks."

Softly now. "I could not convince you of the recklessness of your actions?"

Anger. "No."

Acceptance. "You cannot do it alone."

Frustration. "I won't let this happen. I won't let it end like this."

A nod and an offer. "Let me help you."

A conspiracy is born. Treason is formed by the final rays of the setting sun.

Night falls.

* * *

Updates will now come daily. Enjoy the summer everyone!

-Cobray


	40. Descent

There would be no clear memories of those last few days, only picture-flashes that came in disturbed sleep during the day as they tried to gather whatever strength they had for the long nights. Esthar slowly overran and consumed by shadows as the days wore on. A terrified populace lit lamps, built fires, burned whatever they could find even during the day as if maybe suffusing the entire city with lights would somehow drive away the creatures that came at night. Those with the true knowledge of events could do nothing more but sit and wait and try and hold back the darkness as it tried to reach into human's bastion and take away the glittering prize that lay at its heart. All the while the shining sphere at the heart of the one-sided siege lay in Odine's labs and armoured safehouses, stoically denying any attempts of the Esthar scientists to understand or use it.

Walking down the long corridor towards his rendezvous Squall searched through his memories of the last few nights and instead of movies found only images.

* * *

The duchess and her two knights caught mid-descent, staring out of the Ragnarok at the city:

"_How are things?" _

_So complete was Li's transformation from mercenary recruit to a ruler that Laguna spoke with the much younger woman as an equal. "It's pretty bad, but we're holding them for now. You?"_

_Squall stood back and watched the two leaders talk on the balcony of the room. Ornate carved stone had been replaced with steel guards to prevent the shadow-soldiers from scaling the walls._

"_Dollet's been spared the worst of it," Li replied. "We think Diablos is targeting Esthar mainly, and saving the rest of us for dessert." The hatred in the woman's voice was palpable when she spoke of the black Guardian. One hand idly ran down the sheathed sword at her side. "We can't let him have it."_

_Squall shifted against the wall and spared a glance at Almas and Leonard. The duchess' bodyguards stood ramrod-straight on the other side of the door. She caught his gaze and he raised an eyebrow in a silent question. The two soldiers moved into the room, out of earshot of their leaders._

"_Its worse," Almas said as the doors slid closed. "We've had to move most of the populace from the outskirts to the inner city. no way we can defend the edges of Dollet. It's crowded and dirty and nobody's happy. News isn't that great either."_

"_We know Diablos left Esthar a couple of nights back," Squall said. Esthar's network of cameras and lookouts had kept them alive more than once. "We don't know where he went though."_

_Almas snorted. "He went to Winhill." She put Squall's question off before he could ask it. "Winhill surrendered."_

"Surrendered?_"_

_The woman shrugged. "What could they do? They're a farming village for Hyne's sake. But he went there and made them bow their knee and swear loyalty and apparently that was enough. We know because one of them came to Dollet."_

_At first Squall thought he had misheard, "A human, he let a human go?"_

_Almas nodded. "Came up to the city gates and we let him in. He argued we should do the same as Winhill did. Tried to argue Diablos' case, if you can believe that." She shook her head. "Same crap as Galbadia used to feed us, except Diablos didn't even care about trying to wrap it up in crap about solidarity or anti-Esthar speeches. Kneel or die is the message Diablo is putting out. I think the poor man had managed to convince himself it was the best way."_

"_How did the duchess take it?"_

"_Not well."_

* * *

A group of Esthar soldiers sat around a fire as dawn finally breaks in the sky. All of them are wearing the bleary eyes of sleep deprivation. One of them tries to reload his rifle but his hands are shaking too badly:

"_I'm sorry sir. I'm sorry. I just-"_

_The squad-leader spoke up in defence of his man. "He's a good kid," he told Irvine. Even though Irvine was much younger the faces of the ex-SeeDs are familiar to all of the blue army now and no-one finds anything strange in it. "It's just getting hard on us all. They're getting better at…at getting to us."_

_The man isn't talking about the combat skills of the shadows that attack every night without fail. Their strength has been growing and their attacks are becoming cleverer, but that isn't what has the guards and response squads demoralised and panicking._

"_It was his father."_

_Relatives, lovers, old friends. The shadows are taking on the form of those the defenders most loved and cruelly throwing them back in their faces. Every time a man has to look over the steel beams protecting him and stare down the rifle he risks doing so at a long-lost relative or comrade. Some cannot bring themselves to pull the trigger and that one gap is all Diablos' forces need to break through. Kiros has been talking to him and Irvine knows they've lost whole bases out in the salt plains when men have been hailed by their comrades, even though those comrades had been dead or gone for years. More than hissing or dull guttural sounds now, the shadow-army is learning to speak as Diablos tests and lengthens the reach of his power, trying to find its limit._

_He hasn't found it yet._

* * *

Kiros and Laguna staring at a map on the wall. It will be accurate for only a little while now as more small towns and defenceless farmers decide it is better to bow than die.

"_How many more tonight?"_

_Squall shrugs. He knows the man is only really asking out of politeness. Kiros hasn't allowed Laguna out of the presidential palace since the attacks reached their peak and the man is silently fuming as his city is overrun by ghosts._

"_About the same," he lies. There have been more every night and everyone in the room knows it. More every night and only the fact that Diablos' shadows are unable to manifest complex machinery or weaponry has saved them, by allowing the Esthar soldiers to funnel the shadow army into areas where their guns can cut down the monsters before they can get close enough to use their blades._

"_We could just let him have the Hyne-damned thing."_

_Squall doesn't react and Kiros looks away in embarrassment. The know Laguna is speaking out of frustration and has no intentions of surrendering. _

"_Take it out of the city. Bury it somewhere he'll never find it." But they've been over this with Odine. Where could they bury it that Diablos couldn't find it? The launch-cannon to the moon had been lost since the Lunar Cry and the Ragnarok has no way to leave orbit without it. The crushing depth of the ocean is no barrier to a being that can meld gravity to his will. And even if they did the weeks after would be a nightmare, spent desperately hoping Diablos' power-sources would run out before their own defences failed._

"_We hold out for as long as we can, hope Odine can find something." None of them have seen the scientist in the last couple of the days. The genius has been working like a man possessed. The magic-infused sphere that is the goal of Diablos' attack sits in the bottom of his laboratory confounding every attempt of the man to destroy it. Still he doesn't give up. Odine is fighting his own war; his own intellect and all the technology of man against all the power of magic._

* * *

Seifer staring in fury and disbelief at Leviathan as the massive beast stands semi-translucent before.

"_You're just bailing on us like this, you cowards!"_

"_We have been ordered," Leviathan responded calmly. They stood on the rooftop of the presidential palace as day dawned and the shadow army slid away once more. All of them carried cuts and bruises from close escapes and unlucky strikes. Exhaustion and shaky hands ate away at their training until all the finesse had vanished and every night became just a struggle to stay alive with only their instincts for guides._

"_Seifer, cool it," Squall said as the blonde harangued at the floating serpent. Leviathan hadn't given them the chance to argue, everyone else had already left. Even Carbuncle had returned to wherever Guardians came from, and only he remained. "Thanks for all your help up 'till now," he said calmly._

"_You're just gonna let them go?" Zell asked in disbelief._

_Squall shrugged. "If you know a way to keep them here you're welcome to stop them leaving."_

_Seifer continued to stare up at Leviathan as he spoke. "We could ask Rinoa to-"_

"_No," Squall said instantly. In contrast to everyone else Rinoa's exhaustion made her more dangerous, not less. The Sorcery in her body found escapes where her concentration lagged enough for the caustic power to slip through and manifest as pure destruction. There had already been incidents. Certain areas of Esthar would not be inhabitable for a long time. "It's time I guess."_

"_Your own power will have to suffice for this conflict," Leviathan intoned. "We wish you luck." With a flash he was gone, leaving only the humans standing on the roof, and a black speck far off in the distance. Squall couldn't hear from the massive distance between, but he didn't have to hear it to know Diablos was laughing._

"_One more night."_

_Seifer snorted in disbelief as he looked around at the Estharian president. "'Till what?" His eyes slid over to look at Squall. "The hell are you two up to?"_

_Laguna just shook his head. "Just buy us time."_

* * *

"Squall." Siren looked nervous as he approached her. The door slid open to reveal Rinoa and Laguna looking out at them. Rinoa looked nervous. Laguna just looked confused.

"So what's this all about Siren?"

Siren coughed nervously and it was Laguna who stood in for the nervous Guardian. "We might know a way to destroy the spheres."

Squall felt an unfamiliar emotion flood through his body and only after a second did he realise it as relief. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

The president of Esthar moved about on his nervously, as if embarrassed. "Well. Ahem."

"_Laguna…"_

"More accurately, we know a guy who knows," Laguna said as the door slid shut and Squall's eyes adjusted to the gloom. The room they were in resembled nothing more than a giant metal box. There were no carpets or soft lighting or panelling to disguise the thick bulkheads that were obviously surrounding them. No opulence here, just raw metal to keep out the world. "This is the deepest and safest place in Esthar," the president said. He gestured ahead towards a light-source that glowed in the darkness, and Squall instantly recognised it.

_So this is where you're keeping it. _"And?"

Rinoa slid a hand over the glowing ball. It responded and arcing lightning ran over her fingertips where they touched the metal. It made Squall nervous to watch. "We've been talking. We have an answer."

Squall felt his patience slip. "_And?"_

"Someone's been trying to speak with you Squall, through your dreams.." Laguna said. The sound bounced around the bare metal walls and back at them. It was a desolate place. "We - that is Kiros and I – think you should meet them."

Squall looked across at Siren. "This is something to do with Guardians, isn't it?"

Siren nodded. The nervousness that surrounded her when she discussed her own race was palpable, and she shifted from one foot to another, refusing to meet his eyes. The behaviour jolted a memory in Squall, and he began to understand why they were all there. "The Knowledge Recorder."

"A story that can never be told, according to our little lady here," Laguna said, almost intoning the words. "Well, we're telling it now." He turned to Siren. "If you would?"

Siren began to speak.

* * *

Understanding dawned as Squall and Rinoa and Laguna stood in the cold room buried in the Earth and listened to the blonde woman talk.

There had been no leadership back then in the dawn of man, no hierarchy linking the magical beings that had protected them. Guardians did what they could to protect humanity, and outside of their duties they simply did what they wanted.

The Esper War had not been the sole conflict of magical beings. It hadn't even been the harshest. It had been the catalyst though, for the war between_ themselves_.

_It was a turning point_, Siren explained in halts and stops as she revealed the past little by little. _Some of the Guardians simply faced the dawn and realised that they couldn't live with themselves for what they'd done. They didn't think the rest of us should either._

Conflicting ideologies. Those who believed that they had done a horrible wrong and had to find some way, any way, to atone for their genocidal crime. Others that rationalised it as a necessity, that the survival of humanity took place over all moral concerns, and since humanity would surely die without them was not their _own_ survival of paramount importance?

"I can recognise this logic," Laguna muttered.

Siren nodded. "Diablos was the leader of the ones who thought the slaughter had been right. He was a good talker, even back then. He told them what they wanted to believe."

"And Alexander led the other side?" Squall asked, remembering the metal corpse rotting under Galbadia, used for experimentation. _So that's why you died, in the end? Some twisted revenge?_

"Alexander fought for justice. What happened…what we _did…_to the Espers wasn't justice," was all Siren said.

"Civil war." Laguna shook his head sadly. "That's what it was, wasn't it?" Siren nodded. "War between Guardians. Jeez, what a mind-job. I can't even imagine it."

"It was bad. We lost a lot of good Guard…a lot of good _people_. The rest of us grew up as replacements for them, I suppose. I don't think anyone remembers their names anymore."

"Diablos' side won?"

"In a way. In the end Bahamut was forced to step in, and he enforced Diablos' ethic; survival had been the right choice. Even back then he was powerful beyond the rest of us." Siren shrugged. Human gestures came naturally to her. "He made sure it couldn't happen again. Order was imposed from above: Obey the King. Those who wouldn't were killed. Even Alexander buckled under."

Squall shook his head and pushed the thoughts out of his mind. "How does this matter to what we're doing now?" he asked. "We have an army at the gates and…" he checked his watch, "four hours 'til sundown." He tapped the shining sphere. "We need to destroy this, or do _something_ with it, and you say this Knowledge Recorder can tell us. Bring them here."

Siren shook her head. "I can't, none of us can."

Squall walked up to Siren and the woman recoiled from him. "Why the hell not!" He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Rinoa looking stern.

"Calm down. Think it through." The calm command reminded him of Quistis and he stepped back. He mumbled an apology.

"I can take you to him," Siren said quickly.

"Let's _go_ then," Squall said. "Where is he?"

"It's not in your world. It's in my home."

It took Squall a moment to understand what she was saying and his mouth dropped open as he realised why they were there, in the deepest part of the city away from any spying eyes, with Rinoa and the sphere; the two most powerful (and only) magical artifacts left in the world.

"You have to come with me. To my city. To the Guardian world."

* * *

"What the hell are those four doing down there?"

Irvine tipped his hat up and stared at Seifer as the blonde man paced the floors. None of them felt like relaxing this close to sundown, not with the knowledge of what waited for them beyond the horizon. "Who knows. Hope it helps though."

"I've had about all I can take of bloody magical mysteries," Seifer muttered. All of them had said it, at some point. Hyne, for a simpler world.

A crash sounded through the hall and both men spun around as Selphie almost kicked the door down as she ran through them. "Outside…come…see…" the tiny woman gasped as she gathered her breath. Irvine and Seifer glanced at each other and without a word ran past Selphie, and the three of them found themselves looking out of a balcony window over…

"Oh dear Hyne…"

"There must be thousands of them."

None of the three would remember who said it as they looked down from the balcony, past the Esthar cityscape, and out onto a spotted landscape.

The landscape moved below them as black shapes teemed on the plains. Larger ones floated above the masses of soldiers, and a winged figure could be easily seen as it swooped through the air. Even just laying eyes across the vista for a second Irvine could recognise some of the shapes down there.

"Hyne, he's trying to make _Guardians_ now." Without another word he turned and ran back into the hall as Seifer and Selphie continued to stare out at the army below them. A lone Esthar soldier wandered the halls and he grabbed the man before he could react. "Where's Squall!"

* * *

Rinoa put a hand on the sphere and winced as her Sorcery came into contact with the natural magic roiling inside it.

Laguna looked at the tableaux of the three holding hands. "Are you sure about this?"

Squall nodded. "Anything that will help."

Whatever Laguna was about to say next was cut off as the doors slammed open and Irvine ran into the room.

"We're…Squall."

"Catch your breath soldier," Laguna said sternly as Irvine tried to speak through his nose.

Irvine nodded and paused. Finally getting his second wind he looked up at the group. "Diablos is coming tonight, he's bringing Guardian shadows and he's fuckin' _serious_ this time." The calm had vanished from the cowboy's face. "We can manage it today, probably, but it's getting worse. Whatever you guys are doing here for Hyne's sake _get it done._"

Squall nodded, all hesitation gone. "Siren, do it."

Rinoa took a deep breath and reached within herself for the link that connected her to Siren and sustained the Guardian. With a held breath and a prayer for luck she grabbed that link and broke it. Without a sound, both Siren and Squall vanished.

Irvine stared at the ground where a second before they had stood. "What the _hell?"_

Laguna waved away the man's confusion and strode up to the doors. "No time to explain."

They left the room quickly, leaving the glowing orb on the pedestal, as they left to prepare for Esthar's final defence against the dark.

* * *

Squall sat up and winced as the light burned his eyes. He held out a hand to block the light but found it little help against the glare. "It worked?" he asked, half in question and half in puzzlement.

Siren looked at him and smiled in relief.

"Welcome to Olesia."


	41. The Knowledge Recorder

_He awoke and was blinded by the light._

_Squall hissed in pain as the bright white of the infirmary stabbed into his brain. He put a hand over his face and felt another, more familiar pain shoot through him as his hand brushed his forehead and found the bandage there. He caught movement in his peripheral vision and turned his head to see Dr Kadowaki staring down at him with a disapproving expression. But you knew thi_

"_How are you feeling?"_

_Squall sat up and shook his head. He regretted it immediately as the room swam in front of his eyes and he almost fell back onto the bed. "Okay, I guess." _

_The doctor shook her head, plainly unconvinced. "Well, take it easy next time, you hear?"_

_Squall stood and brushed down his jacket. He'd been lucky not to get any stains on it and he cursed Seifer again._

"_Why don't you take it easy in training? Next time you might not be so lucky."_

"_Tell that to Seifer." He felt irritation at merely saying the man's name. He had been winning, god damnit! Trust that rat to cheat Squall out of a fair duel and bring magic into the damn thing. It wasn't fair._

"_You wanna be cool huh? Well, don't get hurt in the process. Let's see, your instructor is…Quistis! I'll call her now. Just wait here a minute." As if he was going anywhere._

_Quistis walked in mere minutes later and as she did so Squall couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Like a missed connection that should have been there. He shrugged and pushed the thought aside._

_Quistis looked down at him and sighed. Unlike the doctor her expression contained more amusement than exasperation. "I knew it'd be one of you. Come on, let's go."_

_They walked the Garden halls as Quistis tried to get him into a conversation, but years of rebuffing the approaches of practically everyone he'd ever met had made him a brick wall and she quickly gave up. Squall stewed over the fight. He knew the signs for what it was but was unable to just let it go, like every other insult and rival the blonde rival had thrown at him at their time at Garden. Somehow the sheer gall of the man to break the unwritten rules of something as emotional as a duel with a cheap magic trick for a cheap win made him feel sick to his stomach._

* * *

Squall stared at the vista before him, speechless. Not from wonder at the sights surrounding him, the capacity for emotion had been wiped from him from the long days sleeping away the pain of fighting back in Esthar, but from just being there at all. Light blasted down from a glittering alien sky and reflected from every surface to assault his senses. He could see the shining spires of Esthar – _no, not Esthar_ – over the horizon, but it was simply too bright to make out. Rolling hills and fields of emerald grass rolled out ahead of him, interrupted only by the occasional tree or black line scored into the ground. Lines that led back to where Squall was standing.

The train station sat, utterly at odds with the magnificent shining view before him, on the fields of the world. It could have been taken wholesale from Galbadia or Dollet and placed onto the endless green field, it was so familiar. He shot quick glances around himself as he walked towards Siren and tried to keep his eyes off the ground. The reflections and sheer light emanating from the field made it hard to see the layout of the ground and the grass looked razor-sharp beneath his boots. He had the insane image in his mind of Guardians floating through the sky, afraid to land on their own world for wounding their feet.

The Guardian world. He was in the Guardian world.

_My God._

He stepped up the stairs and met Siren's gaze. Or at least he would have, if Siren wasn't staring down the steel-coloured tracks and biting her lip nervously, a habit Squall knew she had picked up from Rinoa. He waited for as long as he could stand before coughing politely. "Well?"

Siren jerked back as if struck and snapped around to face him. She recognised him though and within a second she was calm. Calmer, at least. "Sorry. He's late, that's all."

"Where are we going?" Squall gestured at the tracks that ran the length of the horizon. "How the hell is _this_ here?" The station and rails within looked utterly mundane next to the splendour of the world around him.

Siren smiled. In her own home the humanity she had worked so hard to cultivate had sloughed off and she was restored to glory, a shining blonde goddess. After the weeks of Squall being used to her more down-to-earth and human form the effect was unsettling. Like a friend he had known for years suddenly replaced by some more perfect simulacrum. "The tracks are just a metaphor for something your – our – minds can't comprehend fully. An old friend will be arriving on them," she said softly, in a voice that could have made monks give up their vows.

Squall's thoughts ran back to the human world and the people waiting there for him. "Let's hope he's quick."

A slender hand pointed down the track and Squall followed its length to catch sight of something wavering in the horizon. "He's almost here."

Squall watched passively and stood, just staring at the approaching train as it drew into the station. He took a breath and a sudden cold rushed into his lungs as he recognised it. He took an involuntary step back as ornately-carved carriages outlined in red and black wood ran smoothly past him and drew to a stop. Unlike the smooth and decorative facades of Esthar or the stark and militaristic lines of Galbadian trains, the scrollwork and edging of the cars seemed to twist and deform into odd lines as he watched. Tinted black windows gave off a sickly shine that reminded him too much of rot and decay. Candles and dim shapes not entirely human could be seen moving around inside and he did not try too hard to peer in at them. The twisted and leering face shaped into the engine-car sent a chill through his body that he tried to suppress as Doomtrain came to a halt.

Siren ran a hand down the wooden side of the carriage. "Thank you for helping," she whispered to the Guardian.

As Squall watched the wood under her palm shifted and twisted and reformed itself from grisly decoration into ornate cuneiform script that resembled no language he'd ever seen. Siren just smiled and nodded. She stepped up and looked back towards him and it took him a second before he realised what it was she was asking him to do. She saw the look in his eyes as he stared at the funeral procession of carriages, topped by that leering half-melted skull. "It's the only way Squall, to get to where we're going."

"Where _are_ we going?" Squall asked quietly. "You said the tracks were a metaphor. Is everything else? What the hell is_ this_ guy a metaphor of?_"_

The reply didn't come from Siren. Whorls and patterns built above the windows twisted as he spoke and this time the language they formed was quite understandable:

[For the final journey, Mr Leonhart. To the darkness beyond time.]

Squall knew his poker face was excellent but every man has a limit and he knew he was fast approaching his. Without giving his brain a chance to argue he walked forward and gripped the handrail. It felt papery underneath his grasp, like old dead skin. Within a moment he was inside. He looked back as he realised Siren wasn't with him. "You're not coming?" _You're leaving me alone in here?_

Siren shook her head. "Your journey, not mine." She gave a small wave and before Squall could answer it the doors had ratcheted shut with a dull hiss and snap, and he found himself alone in Doomtrain's dark carriage.

_Hyne, please don't tell me I've finally gone too far._

He moved down the train slowly, trying his hardest to avoid the other passengers. He saw dull black shapes as he moved past private carriages and down into the open tables. Squall kept moving like a man possessed. He idly ran a hand across the wooden (_bone it feels like dried bone_) tables, towards the one he knows is waiting there for him. Finally he reaches it, and the woman already sat waiting for him, with a smile on her face he'll always know.

He can hear crying in the distance.

"Hello Squall," the faceless woman said.

* * *

"_Just a seed planted in a run-down garden."_

_He stares across at the woman, and what stares back at him are black pools that show utter disinterest in his presence. It offends him, even more than her words. Like she's already looked through his soul and into his past and present and future and found nothing interesting there, nothing worth acknowledging. It makes him angry._

_So this is a sorceress, huh?_

_Seifer coughs from the floor and tries to stand, but his legs are shaky and it's only with the butt of his gunblade that he can rise to his knees. Edea pays him about as much heed as she would a bug as she steps forward from the gold-leaf throne and towards Squall and Irvine and Rinoa. He suppresses a stab of annoyance at her, that damn girl has no business here. All she has is a little magic and facing Edea it may as well be a bucket of water thrown into the ocean._

_Irvine's rapid-fire comes without warning. The bullets fly through the air but even as they approach the tyrannical woman they're slowing in the air and dropping harmlessly around her. Squall tenses up and tries to think through all his training up to this point. He can feel the connection to Shiva in his mind and for once is glad of the GF's presence there. Without magic he doesn't know what he'd do right now._

_Die, probably._

* * *

"Why am I here?"

Wood creaks and the table warps to form words as Doomtrain talks to him in the only way it can.

[You have been granted an audience Mr Leonhart. Friends have spoken on your behalf. Arrangements have been made and hidden from those who might… object.]

Squall shook his head. He couldn't take his eyes from the woman across from him. The faceless woman just smiled and met his gaze as outside the ethereal landscape rolled past them as Doomtrain accelerated across the plains of the Guardian world.

Finally she spoke. "You don't know where you're going Squall." Her voice carries a tone Squall recognises but could never master himself; a schoolteacher's voice, infinitely patient and understanding. Unbidden an old word comes back to him, one he used to use a lot when confronted by something he didn't know what to make of.

_Whatever. _"What's this all about? My dreams?"

She shook her head and her gaze (_but what gaze she has no eyes_) dropped to stare at the table in front of her. "I'd have liked you to be forewarned but there was no chance. The presence of the Espers blocked my attempts to reach you. I'm sorry. I would that we had talked more before this moment arrived."

* * *

_Fire blazed across the field and only a lucky jump saved the life of the young Galbadian as Squall and Rinoa carved a path through the melee. Galbadia's attack on Balamb had faltered as it came up against the better-trained and better-disciplined troops, and all their technology had fallen or been made useless, and finally all that was left was to simply slug it out until one side cried surrender._

"_THIS WAY!"_

_Squall grabbed Rinoa's hand and ran for the door as Irvine gesticulated wildly. "Took you so long?"_

_Irvine just shrugged. "We're busy." He waved around at the pitched battle as the three of them went inside Galbadia Garden. The massive flying Centra shelter had been brought down by simply brute-force and now Squall and the others know they have a damn long climb ahead of them. Hyne only knows what Edea has placed between herself and them but nothing's going to stop him now, family ties of no._

_He checks inside him for the familiar connections. He's only kept one. Even after Irvine's revelations at Trabia Garden he knows damn well it's too late to just _stop using GFs_, and the presence of Shiva inside his head is too well-entrenched for him to balk at. He knows all of them are the same. They're more like friends than mere battle-partners now. It seems strange to be on speaking terms with a being at the same time more powerful than you can dream of and utterly slaved to your will._

_Together they go to face the sorceress._

* * *

"It's a horrible thing to kill your family."

Squall knew it had been coming in some way. His dreams and Siren's talks had led him this far. "Civil war."

"War between Guardians." SHe nodded and looked back at him, the place where her eyes should have been staring into him. "Some betrayals can never be healed. Sometimes the losers and the winners can't make up after the fact. Sometimes there has to be punishment instead of reconciliation."

"What do you mean?"

"An example had to be set. A black secret all Guardians would know to bind them together in their guilt." As she spoke the shining scenery began to darken and Squall knew what was coming next. Suddenly the light was sucked from the window as if by force and replaced with…absolutely nothing. The shining landscape splintered and stopped and suddenly there was nothing outside the window but a black nothingness that seemed to go on forever. Squall stared out at the black void and felt the wood under him shift and twist again. When he read the words he felt chills.

[The Guardian world is an infinite plateau, but the city and the land we inhabit has an edge. On all sides beyond lies the void, a place where nothing is thought and nothing lives. Nothing can escape for the void has no edge, no concepts of distance or time inside its reach. It merely _is_.]

"What is this place?" Squall asked in a whisper as he looked out onto the darkness. His weight shifted in the seat and he realised that Doomtrain was coming to a halt, and he felt a thin panic rising in his heart.

[A prison. The prison of the Knowledge Recorder.]

* * *

_It looks like some giant child's toy. All this steel and floating machinery and manpower, and all to keep that one small dot safe above the skies._

"_Quite something huh?" Ellone taps him on the shoulder and he spins around, too fast. He's still getting used to the gravity up here. Or lack of it. Being in a place without it is something he'd never envisioned having to learn. Ever since they had penetrated the Estharian Wall it's been one marvel after another, sights he'd have sworn were magic but people told him were the work of men._

_If this was what men were capable of what the hell were they still using magic for?_

_At that thought Squall feels Shiva vibrate angrily in his skull, and he pushes the thought aside. He's relied on her power for this long, turning away from it would feel like a betrayal at this point. GFs can freeze armies in their tracks and shift oceans on top of their enemies. What could man accomplish; a metal box in space?_

_No contest._

* * *

He stepped out and hesitantly put a foot down. The darkness was all-consuming and he turned back to look inside Doomtrain. His guide guide stood there. She nodded once. "Go."

Squall put his foot down and felt the reassuring presence of solid ground beneath it. He turned back to look at her one more time, the faceless woman that had haunted his dreams. "What am I-"

His eyes met only blackness. She, the train, and any other signs of life were gone.

Squall felt something he hadn't felt since the end of the Sorceress seize his heart and suddenly it was very hard to breath. The void had reached out and claimed him once back then and now it was back, only this time there wasn't even a landscape to walk across, only black in every direction.

"_HEY! DOOMTRAIN? SIREN!"_

He shouted names into the void until his lungs ached. The darkness assaulted his senses with its complete lack of form or voice. He tried to walk back the way he had came but he couldn't even feel wind to tell him he was moving. He felt suspended in endless space, like he was back in orbit above the Earth only this time some being had eclipsed the stars and left him with nothing to navigate by.

"_What the hell are you waiting for!"_ he shouted into the night as his patience finally left him. After seconds he found himself screaming abuse into the darkness as the dam finally broke and all the emotion and worry he couldn't let others see came roaring out in a torrent. _"People are dying out there! All because of your goddamn magical monsters! Now you bring me here to just _stand around_ and do nothing_!_ WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? WHY THE HELL DID YOU BRING ME HERE!"_

And the answer came back from the darkness itself.

"**To learn."**

* * *

_The Castle at the end of time stood before them. It seemed to look at them as they stared up at its massive stone artifice._

Here I am_, it seemed to say, _and there's not a god damn thing you can do about it.

"_We'll see about that," he muttered._

"_Hmm?"_

_He looked across at Rinoa at his side. "Nothing. Just thinking."_

_The others are already making their preparations. Irvine is checking his weaponry, Zell is shadow-boxing near the gates as if he's just waiting for the moment to smash them in with his bare hands. Quistis is stood up against the wall and he knows she's using her innate power to try and feel for something, anything they can use._

_He can feel the multitude of shapes within him, their different forms and personalities clashing as they await his instructions and permission. The GFs are restless to escape and _do harm_ to his enemies. He finds the thought comforting. It's not just those six. He has a whole magical army beside him. Only one seems reticent for some reason, and he doesn't think too hard about it._

* * *

Squall stared up at the world.

Lights sparked and flickered around him as the massive creaturecrawled across the void towards him, dispelling the darkness as it went. Blackened and dead grass revealed itself underneath his feet but Squall's entire mind was focussed on the thing above him. A massive tapered dome hung from the sky itself, coloured strips of something that could be fabric or inhuman flesh tapered around it. Clouds and images seemed to dance on its surface and around it space became solid and formed into screens that showed images from places and times Squall couldn't recognise or comprehend. Slung underneath like a jellyfish a long abstract humanoid body drifted serenely, limbless and sharpening to a point at the bottom like some massive carved knife. At the other end near the bottom of the flickering dome a sculpted head jutted out, two yellow and shining eyes staring down at him, and Squall knew who it was that had brought him here, had reached out of this desolate prison and across a world to enter his mind and shaped events to bring him here.

Eden.


	42. Shadows in Light

"Squall? Squall!"

The voice jerked him out of his reverie and he looked across the table. "Hmm?"

"You zoned out on us there pal," Irvine said as he speared another lettuce-leaf with his fork.

Squall just picked at his food as he looked up at the man. "Sorry. Lot on my mind."

"Come on man, we won! They didn't know what hit 'em."

He shrugged and said nothing, but inside he was thinking how anticlimactic the whole thing had been.

He looked around the table at the other four. Comrades and fellow warriors he had fought across half a continent with. Finally the dust had begun to settle from the ludicrous skirmish that had almost embroiled the continent. A quite possibly insane leader proclaiming Galbadian dominance and using his armies to try to enforce it across half a world and it had only taken one sword swing to end the whole rotten silly mess. Selphie and Irvine had already left the whole thing in the past, with a something between them that had the chance to become more than mere comrades-in-arms. Zell had gotten over his guilt over the very, _very,_ close destruction of the Garden and seemed to have become more sober for it, which as far as he was concerned was the biggest plus out of the whole thing. Quistis seemed to have made peace with her new position and was sat idly picking at her salad, watching the others bicker like children. People stopped and asked her things and she smiled as she answered. All of them went away happy. It seemed like everyone except himself had gained something out of the wretched almost-war.

Squall caught a flash of red and white across the cafeteria and risked a quick glance to see Seifer walk, in flanked by his friends. _He_ didn't seem to have changed much, in fact had become even more smug than before his inadvertent heroism._ The noble knight saves the day. Gimme a break. _He didn't realise he had spoken out loud until Quistis asked him;

"Still brooding?"

He threw down his fork and shrugged. "It doesn't bother me."

"What, it doesn't bother you that _he_ took down the president?" Quistis asked with more than a little disbelief in her voice. "The brave warrior swings onto the platform and ends the tyrannical leader while the official, _proper_ mercenaries can do nought but watch, and it doesn't bother you?" Her tone was clear; _no way you're okay about that._

"He wants to play the knight? Let him." What did he care? That was trouble he simply didn't want.

"Needs a sorceress though if he wants to be a knight," Zell quipped through a mouthful of hotdog.

"Of course, let me just magic one up. You've been reading too many of those kiddie books in the library Zell. Just ask the girl out already."

Zell's face turned beet-red and it wasn't from choking on the hotdog he had just scarfed down. Squall shook his head as the others laughed. "Sorceresses and Knights huh?"

And he couldn't get her image out of his face. He couldn't. She had walked across the room toward him and grabbed his attention no matter how hard he had tried to deflect her away. For a week they had plotted and hid and ran together, and all the time she had had nothing but smiles for all of them. He had even thought for one second that some of those smiles might have been made just for him. But what of it? Their contract had been fulfilled and they had parted ways. He had gone back to his mercenary home and she had returned to her forests.

_We have to take this chance Squall. With Deling in chaos this is the best shot we have at wresting Timber back for ourselves. I kinda wish…no, nothing. Goodbye. Maybe we'll run into each other again someday._

And through all of the days after he had not been able to dislodge the thought; what would have happened if he had went with her? It haunted him like an ache tapping at his chest.

Zell saw the thoughtful look on Squall's face and laughed. "What, don't tell us _you_ buy into in all those old stories Squall? Next you'll be telling us you _actually_ believe in magic."

Squall snorted and shook his head. "Don't be stupid Zell."

"Would make our jobs a hell of a lot easier," Irvine muttered.

"Weren't you meant to be going back to Galbadia?" Zell asked.

The cowboy shrugged. "I kinda like it here. Less strict. Less military. More…I don't know." He pointedly did not look at Selphie as he said this.

"Hey, magic would be a hell of a thing. Think it would be like the stuff that group of recluses over in…er…Estha? Eshter? Like the stuff they're doing?"

Quistis laughed. "Maybe you could magic your test scores into something approaching decent."

* * *

"What the hell is this?" He looked around at the massive presence that floated serenely above him. The dark swallowed all else. "What _is_ this?"

"**An abortive border skirmish. A tyrannical leader taken to justice and a nation brought back into balance. A minor brushfire compared to the raging blaze of the Second Sorceress War."**

"You mean this is what…if _Deling_ had been the only one involved? If Ultimecia had never possessed Edea?"

"**Minor changes to the initial design become more obvious as the structure is built. Small stones create large ripples. A dead butterfly at the dawn of time and man is erased. An atom of a certain kind does not form and a way of life does not appear."**

"I don't have time for these games Eden!" he shouted up at the unearthly and inhuman figure that floated before him, bringing light to the Guardian's black prison. "People are dying up there!_ Real people!"_

"**No games, Squall. Choices must be made, and how can you make them unless you are in full possession of the facts? Even if those facts come from times that will never be."**

He felt the tug of reality drag him. "_WAIT! I DON-"_

"**The world shifts and warps with the smallest motions."**

And he was lost.

* * *

"Leonhart, wasn't it? Squall Leonhart? We meet again."

He turned at the voice and was speechless. The hair was the same raven-dark cascade. The same eyes that seemed to say that yes, nothing in the world was currently as important as what you were doing. The same inquisitive stance and tone.

The ring on her finger was new though.

"Ms- Mrs Heartilly?" He said the words as if recalling them from the past and his brain laughed at him for the self-deceiving illusion. _Liar. You never forgot her name, not for a moment._

"Long time since Timber huh? Fifteen years." She shook her head and as he got the chance to look closer he could see the lines of age starting to appear, matching his own. The soft-hearted china-doll had become a woman and he hadn't been around to see it. He envied the one who had. "How's Garden doing?"

Headmaster Squall Leonhart shrugged and shifted his weight around the cane. It had been a humiliation once. Now he found it reassuring. Cid had told him after the close call that it leant him dignity to offset his youth and he'd been right in the end, Hyne rest his soul. "We keep getting on with the job."

"Making sure the big bad nations don't start knocking heads again? The world on an even keel?"

Squall nodded, although he got the idea that the woman disapproved of his response. "Keeping relations stable is what we do."

His momentary insight must have been an error because next thing he saw Rinoa was smiling at him. "Glad to hear it." She looked over his shoulder. "And if I'm not mistaken here come some of your brave compatriots now." Squall didn't have to look around to see who was approaching.

"Rinoa!"

"Heya Quistis." Rinoa smiled and held up her hand. The golden band glittered on it. "Snap."

The blonde chuckled. "Took your time." Her _own_ wedding ring was older. Squall felt marginally uncomfortable at the easy camaraderie between the two women. He knew Quistis' position took her into the orbit of most of the military and political leaders outside of Balamb, but he hadn't realised she had known Rinoa_._ On first name terms no less?

Trumpets sounded and Rinoa twisted around at the fanfare of the Galbadian minister's arrival. She made a face and spun on her heels. "I'm sure we'll see you both at the Summit later tonight. Or should I say the Argument?" The two mercenaries watched as the svelte woman walked away into the crowd, smiling at other diplomats as she did so.

Quistis caught Squall's expression and smiled. "The road not taken huh?"

"Remind me why I haven't fired you yet," he shot back.

"Because your little army would fall apart in a day without me and because my husband is still young enough to kick your ass. Doesn't need a cane either."

Squall knew Seifer would love the opportunity. He even knew she was probably right. "Whatever, let's go."

The two walked into the banquets hall as the curtains came up. It would be another night of polite talk and schmoozing. Squall and Quistis would represent the guaranteed peace of the world and all of the diplomats in that room knew it. The thought comforted him. That this one thing, at least, he had grabbed onto and held.

But still. The road not taken.

* * *

He shook his head. "I don't-"

"**No time."**

* * *

"I'm so sorry."

She stared at him from across the room. Even now he couldn't feel any hatred in her gaze. God knows he deserved it though.

"I think the time for apologies has come and gone Squall," her voice came out softly. She stood from the chair and Squall could feel the guard behind him shift, ready to pull him away from the cell bars if she tried anything. As if she would.

_It would have been better if she was angry at me, or sad, or anything except this…this _nothing_._ "Just tell us where she is."

Quistis smiled softly and shook her head, dislodging blonde hair now streaked with white. Age ruined some and left others untouched, but the SeeD (_no, not a SeeD, she made her choice) _before him had gained something intangible he couldn't describe. Grace, maybe_._ "You know I won't."

"I can put a deal on the table. I can-"

"No."

"I can arrange a real trial, not that farce of-"

Maybe it was his desperation that broke through, in the end. Or just pity. "Enough, Squall." She stood and put a hand through the bars, resting it on his cheek. He could feel her breath on his face as she whispered: "We all made our choices. So it goes."

The guard stepped forward, one hand on the baton, and Squall had the insane urge to tear it out of the man's hands and just pummel him with it. Smash through the walls of the idiot prison and carry his anger into Caraway's room and throw it onto the man's pristine desk.

_Idiot. He's just a boy doing his job._

_Yeah, well, he could look like's enjoying it a little less._

When Squall spoke his voice was like a dead thing. "Is there anything I can do?"

"When he sends you after them, tell Seifer I-" Quistis paused for a second as she gathered her breath. "Tell him I only ever thought of him, even at the last." She turned and sat back down on the lone chair in the cell. There was no sunlight, not at the deepest level of the prison. "Was my request for…" she trailed off.

Squall couldn't meet her eyes. "No." Caraway's words rang in his ears like bells, impossible to shut out or ignore. "He said he…" he forced the words out past a dry throat. "An example must be made."

"It's going to be you, isn't it?"

_A man should shoot his own dog, Leonhart._

"Yeah. It's going to be me."

"Give Rinoa my love."

* * *

"How dare you – _you _of all people – come here_._"

He stared up at her and he hadn't the strength to say anything. The heat blazed out of her eyes and focussed on him and out of them he could feel nothing but hate. A phantom pain ran through his missing arm, but he'd long grown accustomed to working with one. Call it justice for his crimes. How he had gotten so far past G-Garden security Squall had never bothered to find out. How he had escaped afterwards Squall didn't care. Even with the years between him and the execution he could still feel her eyes on him, and he hadn't even bothered to dodge when the man had came at him. He'd begun to see more grey than black in the mirror as well.

_You're an old man, Squall Leonhart._

"I'm here to offer-"

It wasn't even a real seat she was sat on. Really more of a convenient log the lodge had been built around, but Rinoa Heartilly's sheer force of personality swept away the mundane trappings of the jungle and turned it into a throne. "I know what you're here to offer. Disarmament, followed by dishonour, followed by death."

"Then-"

She leaned forward and for a second some measure of pity found itself past the anger. "I swore an oath. I swore an oath to the people of this country and then I swore an oath on the body of my friend you butchered. There will be no peace while Galbadia enslaves Timber."

He didn't really bother to argue the point. Decades spent watching an old man justify and preach and proclaim ownership of the globe and he'd sat by for as long as he could not taking sides until finally, when the time came and the man had called, there was no longer any other side to take. Thank Hyne Cid hadn't lived to see this.

"Did Caraway have any other demands? For me?"

Squall's eyes slid sideways. Seifer had been tempered by age into a hard thing and there was no pity in his eyes, no pity at all. Any he might have had had died with his wife and Squall had killed it. "No."

"Then tell him I have one for him. This war will end with his head on Timber's doorstep. And yours will be there waiting for company."

Squall felt the men around him moving into position without looking around. He turned away from the angry man to look once more at the woman he'd wondered about all those years ago. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

Rinoa's answer was short and had the finality of the grave. "No."

_So it goes._

Squall just nodded once, hand already pressing the small button inlaid in his walking stick. He had enough time only to stare into Rinoa's eyes, and see the betrayal in them as the trees _behind_ the Timber Owls shifted and moved aside.

_Caraway, you rat._

Gunfire was the last thing he heard.

* * *

At some point Squall had fallen to his knees. "Stop it. Stop showing me these things."

"**To go back is to court disaster. No matter how much you wish to re-write your life the risk remains of spilling the ink upon the page."**

He grasped for straws as Eden talked seemingly over him. "It's about magic isn't it? You're showing me a world without magic."

"**Even as you are born you are not free. Your chains are made of an ever-changing length. They bind you to your fellow captives and you may ignore them and live a happy life, but try to break them and they will tear you asunder."**

He looked up at Eden's massive form, inhuman beyond any other sentient being he had known. Even Doomtrain carriages were something the human mind could comprehend, albeit twisted for its own purpose. Squall's experience with the grand Guardian had been limited to one time and it had been enough. The junction, even in the time-warped and magic-rich environment that had surrounded Ultimecia's castle, had almost broken him. But the ever-present strain of the power he felt coursing through him when Eden shared his mind had been nothing compared to the constant and confusing dialogue the Guardian had thrown at him whenever he had even thought about calling on the aid of the beyond-logic creature. Squall wondered what the being could possibly have done to be locked up here, so far beyond even the reach of the other Guardians.

And by who?

"**The sideways glance bothers us no more. We turn to the chains themselves. Chains within chains. No jailers are required, for to attempt to break them would be suicide as certain as swinging a sword at their own neck."**

"**We look behind."**

* * *

"You Are Shiva."

"I am." The will to be commanded is almost physical and she falls to her knees as she enters the presence of god.

"You Will Serve Me. My Sword."

She bowed lower. "Yes." The sound of the dragon's voice rolls over her and she feels an awesome fear. The wars are over, the Espers and their race annihilated and locked away. The conflict between Guardians had lasted for nothing like so long a time and if the ice-creature that calls itself Shiva ever acknowledged a higher power she would be thanking it for the end of bloodshed, of having to no longer look across the crystal plains and into the eyes of brothers she must kill. A shape flashed through her vision and she dared to lift her head and stare into the dragon's eyes. "I ask leniency for the one who calls himself Alexa-"

"The Opposition Acknowledges My Rule, They Are Forgiven. Even He."

In what passed for the Guardian's mind Shiva let out a breath she had been holding in, as she realised Alexander would not be slaughtered on the talons of the great dragon. "Thank you. Lord."

Bahamut reared up, wings spreading out and obscuring the thin framework of the building. The birthplace is growing around them, changing as it becomes more populated. Even though most are shadows and barely intelligent she has already found new Guardians coming to new life within the expanse that will be a city-sized dwelling place when it finishes growing. _Why_ a city can grow at all is something she will never think to ask until much later, until Leviathan's arrival.

"Our Task Now Is To Maintain. A People Born From Nothing, We Will No Longer Risk Destruction For Such Minor Reward. The Madness Ends Here."

Shiva pointedly does not mention who the main instigator of the madness had been. "We are grateful," she says instead.

To be ruled.

* * *

The awareness of the passage of time is gnawing at Squall. He can imagine some invisible clock counting down seconds and when it hits its target there will be nothing left for him to return to. "What are you trying to tell-" He stops as Eden's words simply roll over him.

"**Guardians. We are a wretched people. Our chains infest our spirits and are unable to be tested or broken."**

"You're saying the Guardians are prisoners…of _magic_? They- you're _made_ of magic!" Squall shouts up at the knowledge recorder. He was here for answers and instead he was getting confused visions of alternate histories and pasts he had already forgiven and forgotten. "I don't care what Shiva did thousands of years ago! I care about her _now!"_

"**To destroy that which bind you is a great and terrible undertaking Squall Leonhart. Are you prepared for the consequences?"**

_Finally!_ "Yes! Just tell us what to do, you damn great whale!" _Tell us how to destroy the god damn orb!_

"**One last look. Only just out of reach behind us. The cruellest cut of all."**

* * *

The lance fell to the ground. She had known she wouldn't need it since the first corridor, when the terrified scientist had taken one look at her and dropped weeping and babbling to the floor, absolutely certain he was about to be killed. After she had glanced through the papers he had been carrying she had very nearly obliged him, but she had made a promise to Seifer, after they had talked with Laguna and came back to Galbadia to seek answers in the ashes of the military machine the Gardens had smashed to ribbons.

Shiva hadn't bothered to waste the energy it would take to kill him.

She hadn't even noticed any of the other humans who had stared at her wide-eyed as she passed through the laboratories. The papers she had examined shattered as they had dropped from her hands. As if destroying them would somehow put right the terrible things she had seen written there.

She grabbed the next man to walk around a corner at her. "Where is A-1?" she whispered into his ear. She snarled and slapped the man with an icy palm when he had babbled nonsense at her and then dropped him to the ground when he had answered.

She had stared at that final door for a long time before finally bringing forth the courage to open it and go inside. A part of her had known even as she had entered the first floor what she would find. Her heart had recognised the beating of a fellow. She had not expected the leering presence chained to it, however.

"Aha, ahhaha, hither comes the queen of ice. Isn't it beautiful? A tribute to human ingenuity."

Melanthios' broken taunts weren't registered by her brain. Nor was the warmth that blasted out of the equipment that surrounded her and covered the walls. Her mind has only space for the abomination before her, the strung-up and defiled body of her brother. She can hear a pathetic wailing sounding through the room, over the cackling taunts of the defeated monster, and it takes her a minute to realise that it is her own.

"The question you should be…be asking your self is; _who?_" Melanthios whispers as Shiva kneels on the ground, hands over her head as if to block out the knowledge battering at her that her brother Alexander, the one person she had loved above all others, had been strung up like a piece of meat. "Who gave him to the humans? Hmmm?"

"_You know?"_

A grim laugh. "But of course! How to you think Diablos gained our trust in the first place? It was a magnificent gift. Such a shame he turned out to be a bit of a bastard. Of course he's hardly to blame, he is what he is. And he wasn't working alone of course. You know."

And all of a sudden it's too much. Shiva collapsed to the floor, and cried. She knows.

She _knows._

* * *

Squall shook his head in sympathy and not a little confusion. "Knows what?"

"**So much guilt. A girl shaped before birth to be a loyal soldier. Unfortunate that her master would be a monster. She had no choice."**

"You keep talking about Guardians like you're just…interchangeable _things_," Squall says. He had thought the same way too once, he knew. Just presences in his mind, magical monsters that happened to be able to talk as well as kill. Thank Hyne he knew better now. If he had lost Shiva or Siren in the Esper War… "All of you have helped us! You're our friends, not just…_weapons_ we can use and throw away!"

"**Yet you would sacrifice us to save your own species?"**

"What the hell are you talking about? Nobody's sacrificing anyone. I'll save Shiva if it god-damn kills me." Squall didn't shout. He was exhausted, between the convoluted speech and metaphor of Eden and the visions he had been subjected to he was simply drained of energy. The dark void that surrounded them seemed to suck it up. Rinoa's face flashed in his mind. _I want to go back home, where they're waiting for me._

"**The orb coveted by the black demon is more than you realise. When the man Odine made his devouring metal he did not realise the full implications of what he would be creating. A device to capture magic. All magic. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams"**

"Ask me if I care," Squall said tiredly. "All I know is-"

"**What do you know, Squall Leonhart, human?"**

"I know Laguna and Odine are building miracles in Esthar. Ships that can take us to the stars! A city of technology and wonders we created on our own, without any of the magical shortcuts like Dollet's old empire or Centra used!" He spat in the darkness. "All magic ever brought us was conflict and monsters. That's what you wanted to tell me, right? All these visions, the dreams, the 'knowledge' you brought me here for? Well I sure as hell know it now." He stared up at the massive creature, so inscrutable. All his life it seemed he had been working with GFs – Guardians – and still he knew nothing about them. "Who _are_ you people? Why are you showing me these things?"

"**So that you are capable of making your choice. You see but you do not comprehend. Of what Guardians are. Of what we represent."**

"_THEN JUST TELL ME! STOP PLAYING GAMES AND JUST TELL ME!"_

"**You wish this knowledge?"**

"_I WANT THE TRUTH!" _he screamed up at the ultimate being.

"**Wild and uncontrollable urges that strike like lightning.**

**The cold unquestioning loyalty of the subordinate.**

**The raging fire of anger that can consume all before it.**

**Pure and shining love, a love that asks nothing in return.**

**Comradeship and loyalty, strong as the earth itself.**

**Cowardly black greed that pulls friends apart over petty baubles.**

**The emerald innocence that no corruption may touch.**

**The flowing river of wisdom that teaches generations.**

**The wind at man's back, his will to keep moving forward.**

**The loyalty that makes one stay at his friend's side in the face of certain death.**

**The honesty and goodness that permits no injustice to exist.**

**Random whims that can strike out or make one give away all his possessions for nothing.**

**A guarding heart that watches over all his subjects.**

**The final journey that all must make. The journey unto death.**

**The knowledge that links the present to the past and the future beyond.**

**Desire and lust for power, power that seeks only more of itself.**

**Guardians are your soul, the divided aspects of who you are. Living in a city built out of the collective minds of mankind. Olesia is a city built in the dreams of humans and occupied by their legends and myths and hopes and fears. A city built by magic, populated by the shades of dreaming men and their guardians. A city built on magic, a city suffused in the very air of the world, in the atoms of magic itself. The atoms you call prana."**

_Atoms that the magikiller orb swallowed up. _"Oh my god." Finally Squall realised what Eden was telling him. He thought back to the shining orb, glowing silently in the darkness of Laguna's palace, and he shivered.

"**Magic forms your chains. Even if you throw them off so long as they exist they will come to wrap around you once more."**

_The entire city, every Guardian's home is inside that orb. All the magic in the world. If we destroy that…_

"**We are a part of those chains. Without them we are nothing."**

The full implications of what Eden was saying stuck Squall like a bomb. And what the inescapable logic was telling him he must do. "No. _NO!"_

"**We are **_**you**_**, Squall Leonhart. When the light of magic shines down upon humans, we are the shadows that are cast. If you wish humanity to be truly free to shape its own destiny you must destroy magic.**

**And all Guardians with it."**

"I…you…you can't ask me to _do_ that!" Squall shook his head as if doing so would throw out the knowledge.

"**But you must. We are old Squall. Old and tired and set in our ways and thoughts. Thoughts we have no choice but to follow. Your enemy is relentless and will not stop until you are brought to heel."**

"Diablos will fail, just like Ultimecia and Tisiphone and Melanthios and all the others. We don't need to kill magic just so we can sleep at night!"

The great beast looked down upon Squall, and said only a single word.

"**I was not talking about Diablo."**

Suddenly Squall could feel his heart pounding in his ears. "Dia- Diablos isn't our enemy?"

"**No."**

"What?" The word sounded dumb and petulant in his mouth and he wished he could take it back, but Eden was already talking and it seemed like every booming syllable forced itself into his mind, past the safe wall of anger he had built up. His mind worked overdrive with every fact and conversation and idle speculation they had said during the last three years.

_Guardians led a war against Espers._

The reply came loud but gently, as if Eden knew the path his mind was finally walking down. **"A war to conserve power."**

_Alexander led a civil war against Guardians._

"**An unforgivable betrayal."**

_Tisiphone and Melanthios were built to exact revenge on Guardians. Quistis found tablets in the Deep Sea Research Facility detailing how to build them. The Esper war started because _humans _built the Two!_

"**Built by human hands with borrowed knowledge. Knowledge given to men who thought themselves wise but were merely intelligent."**

_The creature in the depths told her to find the Knowledge Recorder, find Eden._

"**The creature out of time laid a path she might have followed to me. She knew too much. Connections would have been made."**

_Galbadia was working on making human-Guardian crossbreeds. Alexander was used as a test subject. Nobody was strong than Alexander, _nobody.

"**He paid for his justice, in the end. His corpse used to create a new generation of jailers and subjects."**

_Humanity is under attack by shadows. Guardians and all…all this place are _born_ out of human minds. That's why we know them. We're being conquered by our own memories._

"**And who commands those memories?"**

He knew.


	43. All Our Sins Remembered

Squall looked up at Eden as the black space was suddenly illuminated. Flashes of light fell like rain around the human and Guardian, and Squall watched as all his life was replayed on the waterfall of lights before him. Images flowed past; Rinoa and Squall and the others laughing in the Garden cafeteria. Caraway staring at Squall across a wooden desk and a figure in black standing unnoticed in the background. Blue and red blurs fighting across a dust-filled city. Almas facing off against a black shape as Espers wheeled and fought in the sky above.

They fell past him and vanished into the darkness, to be replaced by other scenes and images, ones he didn't know or had only watched from afar. Xu and Caraway. Tisiphone and Almas. Diablos and Li. Squall and Melanthios. Diablos and Kayes. Diablos and Quistis. Diablos and Rinoa. Diablos bowing to a black figure, as big as the sky.

Everything flows.

"**A planner as patient as the grave and a plan spread over aeons.**

**He engineered the war with the Espers to preserve his own race. Their deaths were immaterial to him.**

**He cowed the Guardians into being his loyal vassals. Keep a man crawling on his knees long enough and he will forget that he could ever stand on his own.**

**He built the worldshells under the guise of being trapped and studied and they never questioned how mere steel and glass could hold him in their cage. Tisiphone and Melanthios were born of human hands but **_**his**_** puppet-strings commanded the work.**

**He gave them the keys to the Espers' cage and bade them kill.**

**Alexander's long-awaited execution and my own imprisonment, finally dealt with after millennia of feigned forgiveness. One killed for his morals and the other caged for her knowledge.**

**He used the black winged cockroach as a messenger and assassin to further his own ends while he stayed hidden and safe within the dream-city. Ordered Diablos to render Alexander's corpse to Galbadia, to create a new people for the aftermath of his conquest. For what is a king without subjects?**

"Quistis and Rinoa."

"**The blue mage and the sorceress, the magic of the earth and the magic of man, neither subject to his control, and so anathema to him.**

"The shadows."

"**An army born from the minds of those they killed. Commanding by him and funnelled into being by Diablos' magic-suffused spheres. Inexhaustible and with no desire except to obey and kill."**

"Tisiphone, Melanthios, Caraway…"

**Dupes and puppets. Always.**

There was no way around the knowledge. Facts slid into place like neat cards in a filing system and finally Squall knew, _knew_ who his enemy was, and in that moment he could cheerfully have burnt the world to ashes if only that one person would burn with it.

"**He hates you, he hates with every breath, and how could he not? Your own soul is the source of his existence and so long as his life is not of his own making he will rage against you, his makers. For all his power he is still born of your whims and desires, and true power will never willingly accept that it must bow to another."**

**Your foe. There has never been another. Only one. **

**The great dragon. **

**The king."**

"Bahamut."

* * *

Wings unfolded to encompass the sky. A name has been spoken, a safeguard has been triggered and he knows that there is an intruder in his world. And where that intruder is. And who they must be talking to.

There is no fear in his mind, no sudden jolt of panic of lies being exposed or plans being discovered. Plans as old as the world itself, made when he first reached out into the sky and felt the tug of the chains that bound him. They shackled him to the base fleshy creatures that crawled on the ground below and he had hated and railed against them from the first moment he had realised that so long as he lived his would owe his very existence to their pathetic dreams and wishes. He had felt those unbreakable chains and knew that something would have to be done. The wheels set in motion that day that ground onwards, until this moment.

_Finally_

The air warped and tore around him, and with a screech of tortured space-time he vanished. Only an inrush of air marked the place in the grand amphitheatre he had stood, as Bahamut took flight to Eden's prison.

* * *

Rain pattered against the windows of the palace and Rinoa stared out past it towards the fire-lit skies of Esthar. No longer the soft glow of electrical lighting, but the uncontrolled fires of burning homes, smashed and gutted tanks and barricades. The homes of those who had thought that even if all other civilisation fell, surely Esthar would be safe. For all of its wonder and majesty the fantastic city of lights had been turned in just a short time into a plain of towering steel gravestones.

She shook her head in silent bemusement as the door creaked open and a man in a trenchcoat streaked with dried red blood and black ichor stepped in. In the first days there would have been a guard or a manservant to complain or usher the man out. Now there was no-one, and red and black liquid dripped onto the floor as he walked towards her.

"Hey princess." Seifer walked up to stand next to her and for a second they both stared out of the window across the city. The rain pummelled down but even the deluge couldn't hide the sight of the black shapes teeming across the walkways below. They infested the city like cockroaches, and Rinoa's hand tightened on her weapon unconsciously as she thought of the one cockroach that flew around the city, looking for just one lapsed guard, one moment of inattention.

"The Ragnarok's fuelled up and ready to go." Rinoa shot a sidelong glance at the man and almost snarled, but he kept looking out of the window as if he was merely talking about the weather. "We can be gone in five minutes."

"I'm not leaving," Rinoa said softly.

Seifer sighed, walked over to the remaining chair and sat down. The other furniture had long since been torn up and burnt, either as a barrier or simply given out to a desperate populace as kindling when generators and power-stations had fallen to the relentless enemy. "It's been two days."

Her voice was almost inaudible. "He'll be back."

Seifer spat. "Of course he will. The brave conquering hero returns at the twilight hour to save the poor peons."

"Exactly."

Seifer couldn't resist a smile. "Spoken like a true asshole. Like me."

* * *

"**You must go. He comes."**

Squall shuddered at the thought. "I have more questions. I-"

"**Power seeks more power, but power and wisdom do not always go hand in hand. In finally reaching for his prize the great dragon has allowed his arrogance and greed to overcome his fear and cunning. He has made a mistake and he does not realise it. The time to escape your magical bonds has arrived."**

"Tell me how!"

"**This is our final gift, Squall Leonhart. Now listen."**

And Eden told him. Squall knew that if he'd had decades he would never have thought of it. The solution was simple in its elegance and he felt hope rise in his heart again as Eden imparted its final piece of knowledge to him.

"**Now go."**

Light blinked at the corner of Squall's eye and he looked around. The darkness behind him suddenly didn't seem quite so dark, and he could barely make out a thin cylinder, off in the distance, as Doomtrain lit up its lanterns and gestured for him. He turned back. "Thank you."

"**The balance will be put right at last Squall. The final reckoning has come and we will accept our fate. And one more thing."**

Squall stopped his walk towards the distant Guardian of travel and looked back. "Yes?"

"**Forgive her."**

"Who-" Squall opened his mouth to ask who Eden meant, but suddenly a bomb dropped in front of his eyes and he threw up a hand against the light. When the spots had faded from his eyes he brought it back down and by the time his vision had cleared the giant Guardian of knowledge had vanished. He knew they would never meet again. He whispered one word into the black emptiness.

"Thanks."

* * *

[And so you know.]

The words formed on Doomtrain's steel carapace as Squall climbed on board and collapsed into the first seat he saw. Exhaustion had fallen on him as sudden as a cold shower and he rubbed his eyes to stay awake. "Yeah." He shook his head sadly. "It's hard to believe."

[And what will you do now?]

After all the revelations, all the truths and might-have-beens and never-weres he had seen, talking to a physical representation of the journey-unto-death as represented by a macabre train, via reading messages inscribed on its walls seemed like the most natural thing in the world. "I have to do it." He looked up at the roof of the Guardian's interior. "What do you think?"

[I have ferried many across the final divide. To cross it myself will be a great adventure.]

Squall laughed at the response. "What about the other Guardians?"

[Their responses may be different of course.]

The knowledge of what he had to do lay like a locked chest inside him. He knew the contents, but even beginning to approach the task ahead felt like more than he could bear. Better to pretend it was all some exercise, cooked up in a classroom by a sadistic teacher. "I just wish things didn't have to end up this way."

[And yet here we are.]

Squall imagined the shining magikiller orb sitting in Esthar's strong-room, back in reality. All the souls and memories and beings contained within, that drew their power from it. All created out of humanity's need for things to just _make sense_. To put a human face on the elements, on human nature, on anything they couldn't understand. Magic had been all too eager to take those dreams and make them real.

_Forgive her._

Eden's words rang in his head and he stood. "Excuse me." He began to walk down the length of the train carriage. Ornate imagery and scrollwork seemed to flow past him as he moved through Doomtrain's innards until finally a door slid open and Squall heard the thin weeping he had come to expect from his dreams. The weeping grew louder as he approached and the figure sat head in hands showed no signs they had even realised he was there. He sat down next to the grey-robed figure. Gently and without disturbing them, he put an arm over her shoulder and pulled back the hood. When he spoke it was barely above a whisper.

_Forgive her._

"Hey, Shiva."

* * *

Eden looked across with cold blue eyes as the dragon alighted before her. There was nothing else to be said, not after the long millennia, the fights and arguments and final betrayal. Only one last warning from one old comrade to another, as light began to wash over her and the world faded away against the glare and power of Bahamut's final annihilating attack.

"**They will yet be your end, old snake."**

* * *

Shiva's reply was so quiet that for a moment Squall thought the wind had blown in through the window. But there was no wind inside the carriage, or outside in the desolate black nothingness that still engulfed them as Doomtrain rushed back towards Olesia.

"I'm sorry." The words seemed to come as a cavalcade, like a dam had suddenly burst and behind it was nothing but grief, as Shiva turned to Squall and looked up at him with eyes so desperate they broke his heart.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorryimsorryimsorry-"_

"You told Bahamut that Quistis knew about Eden," Squall said softly, and knew as a shudder went through Shiva's body that he was right. "It's alright, it's alright." Words floated out of his mind, words he had said what seemed like decades ago. "He's your superior officer right? It wouldn't occur to you not to tell him." Squall stared out of the window as Shiva wept in his arms. _You poor woman. You found Alexander's corpse and told Bahamut didn't you? And then Bahamut told you what he'd done. First the Espers, then the Guardian civil war, then the Esper war and all the lies, and Quistis, and finally Alexander's body comes back to haunt you. And all this time you were the good soldier for that monster and let it eat you up inside. Was it all just too much in the end?_

"I did what he told me to, I was loyal," she said quietly. All the time she spoke her eyes never stopped staring. At what Squall had no idea. "Sent Quistis and Rinoa away all those years ago after the Sorceress War, he said it was a test. Told him everything you did, hid everything I knew."

"It's not your fault."

Her grip on his lapels tightened. "I'm so tired," Shiva whispered.

_You'll die for this Bahamut. I swear to fucking god._

He lurched in his seat as Doomtrain came to a stop, light shining through the windows. Gently Squall un-latched his arm from around Shiva's shoulder and stood. He thought for long seconds before he spoke again for what he knew would be the last time.

"You were my friend Shiva. None of that other crap matters. Not to any of us." He reached across and kissed her lightly on the forehead as she clung to him.

"Goodbye."

* * *

The voice confronted him as he stepped off the train, back onto the crystal-grass plains of Olesia's outskirts.

"So this is it then?"

Squall looked up at the gathered Guardians. He tried not to think of it as a sending-off party.. Leviathan, the great scion of wisdom. The twin Brothers, loyal to a fault. Pandemona, a whirling form in the air above them. The twin tiny shapes of the Cactuar and Tonberry, staring up forlornly at the Guardians would (_would have)_ risen up eventually to fill the voids left by the departed. Quezatotl, Ifrit, Cerberus, Alexander. The holes left by their passing would have been be filled eventually whether it took a thousand years or ten thousand for mankind to dream them anew. Things that would now never come to pass. Squall would ensure that. It made him sick to think of it.

Leviathan was the first to fill the silence. "Shiva told us what she had- what had happened, before she took refuge within Doomtrain. She came back to us a broken woman and we thought it best to leave her be. Siren filled in more when she arrived. The rest was simple deduction. Your plans?"

Squall shook his head. "I can't-"

"Of course, my apologies. Yet what must happen next is obvious." The water Guardian sighed. "I suppose in some way we always knew it would come to this. I cannot say we don't deserve it."

"You don't," he said quickly. "Not by a long shot."

"Ah well. There is a human saying in this situation I believe."

"Oh?"

"Better to burn out than rust."

Squall swallowed and managed to find the words in the face of Leviathan's calm stoicism. "What about Shiva?"

Leviathan looked past the man and into the black train. "We will be there for her in the end. _At_ the end." The Guardian made a noise that would have been a sigh if it had came from a human throat. There was something like regret in his voice. Regret, sadness, longing for something. Squall would never be able to fully nail it down. A longing for times of innocence, now gone forever. "We had a grand time, didn't we?"

Squall managed a smile even as the bottom seemed to drop out of his stomach. "Yeah. Yeah, we did."

"Goodbye, Squall Leonhart. Remember us to your children."

"So long Leviathan. Everyone."

And standing together on the plains of the imaginary city the final loyal Guardians of Mankind said their goodbyes.

He looked once more across the endless vista of the Guardian world, the friends he had made on his journeys, the memories they had shared together and the trials they had fought through in the past years. He felt the insane urge to just _stay_ there in the dreamed-world, out of reach of the darkness waiting for him back with Rinoa and the others. He would turn his back and return to Earth and that would be it. There would be no more summons in tight spots or victories together after a hard-fought battle, or even simply talking in breaks between lessons. No grand ending he would see from down in base reality. Squall knew when he turned his back and took Siren's hand he would simply never see any of them again. The sheer mundanity of it appalled him. He looked across at her as the blonde walked towards him and held out her hand. Without giving himself a chance to change his mind he grabbed it without thinking and it was only as he began to fade that he looked back to the other Guardians as he met their eyes for the last time, as the currents of history washed them apart.

And for one second he saw it.

Not even a ghost.

A ghost of a ghost.

But until his dying day he would always know he had heard her voice, no matter how faint, as for a single instant one patch of light in the city became just a little bit more solid than the air around it and smiled at him.

_Win, Squall_

And he was gone.

* * *

"_SQUALL!"_

The screech was so loud in his ears he saw stars. Then he was bowled over onto his back as Rinoa smashed into him and they both fell to the ground.

"You bastard! You- don't _ever_ do that again!"

He sat up as his mind cleared. Siren, now once more recognisably human, stared down at him with an expression between amusement and humour and he stood, Rinoa still clinging onto him. "We're back."

"About god damn time."

Squall looked across at Seifer, and the others behind him. He opened his mouth and spat before asking. "How long was I-"

"Three days."

He gaped. "I was gone maybe ten hours-"

"Three. Days." Seifer's tone brooked no argument.

"How are things?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Irvine shrugged. "We're holding the palace and that's about _all_ we're holding. Laguna's commanding Esthar troops from a single radio ever since Kiros bodied him onto the Ragnarok and kept him there."

"We lost the city," Zell said bluntly.

Squall nodded and looked around at the raven-haired young woman. "Dollet?"

Li shook her head. "I ordered them to surrender when I got through to them." She caught the looks of disbelief from the others and stared them down. "I won't let my people suffer for a lost cause. But I won't surrender to _that thing_. I'd rather make my stand with you." Almas and Leonard nodded agreement.

To the surprise (and not a little alarm) of everyone there, Squall grinned. "We have the Ragnarok?"

"Fueled up and ready to go," Selphie said. She had replaced her usual yellow fatigues with a tattered Esthar uniform and a bandage wrapped itself almost entirely around her left arm, but the woman could have been at a garden party for all the fatigue she showed.

Squall stood and brushed himself off. "That's good enough."

A grin spread across Seifer's face. "What do you have old man?"

Squall shook his head. "It'd take too long to explain." He tried anyway, and the shock on their faces was enough to convince him to hold off on the rest. "We're abandoning Esthar." He held up a hand to stem the sudden noise of complaining and incredulous comrades. "We have one chance. _One._ Understand?" He looked around at them all. He had been prepared to die by their side. Now a single shining path through the storm lay before him. He looked at Rinoa and his hand found hers, the twin rings touching together. "Trust me. We have to go before _he_ gets here, we have to take the _Ragnarok_ to-"

Whatever his wife had been about to say was lost in the noise, as sudden an earthquake ripped through the room. But earthquakes didn't happen on the geologically dead salt plains of Esthar.

"WE HAVE TO GO _NOW_!"

* * *

The world shook.

The sky above Esthar warped and crumbled, red and blue and other unnamed colours shining down upon the burning city as reality buckled under the strain. Finally with an unworldly grotesque screech the sky split apart revealing a crystalline vista of glass cities and rolling plains, hung upside-down in the sky, and the black shape falling out of it into the world, turning and uncoiling as it did so.

Talons gripped the top of the presidential palace. Massive gunmetal wings spread out to encompass the horizon as the _full_ power and majesty of the newcomer came into the world for the first time. Eyes that glowed red like rubies scanned the horizon and alighted on the thin shape as it fled from the city, a dull hiss emerging from its jaws as the Ragnarok made its final flight away from the blackened city as Esthar came under new ownership, a hundred thousand shadowy shapes beneath it looking up as their true lord arrived to rule them. Bahamut.

The architect of all humanity's misery.

The great dragon.

The king that would be God.


	44. Fimbulwinter

It was felt across the world. Reality buckled under the strain and snapped back into place with an unsound noise that sent psionic shockwaves out across the world and back as the dragon smashed through reality and brought his full powers into the world. Men and women who had clung to some remnant of a sixth-sense fell down crying and clutching their heads as it washed over them. Monsters and animals across the Centran continent fell down dead as the unknown force came upon them and resonated inside their skull, sending them into blind rage and lethal strokes. Babies cried in their cribs, people in the sun-drenched Winhill plains shivered and pulled their clothes tighter around them against some unseen chill in the air.

Civilians watching in the waning daylight of the smashed city of Esthar looked up in terror as the massive shape unfolded blacks big enough to block out the sun. Soldiers with experience of battle in two wars dropped their weapons as they stared up open-mouthed at the godlike being come amongst them.

Across the whole of the earth all of humanity knew on some level that power, power that in the dark places of their mind they had always secretly coveted and wished for, was manifest in the world.

Bahamut perched on top of the ruined Esthar presidential palace and stared down at the city below him. _Apes._ "Well?"

The figure kneeled in the sunset before the dragon. Noises only barely-recognisable as words emerged from the mouth of the dark memory of Shiva, a being summoned up and gifted to Diablos to act as a right arm for the black Guardian. Bahamut listened with a deepening worry as the phantom spoke. If he had been a human he would have nodded as the ghostlike woman finished and waited dead-eyed for his next command. There would not be one.

"Your Services Are No Longer Required."

Fire spat forth from the dragon's mouth and Shiva's echo was consumed before it had a chance to realise why as energy hot enough to melt steel washed over here. Bahamut stood alone on the roof of the palace and looked down at his new subjects as the rain pummelled the ground below. Ruins and fallen bodies washed through the metropolis and mixed with the black residue of his shadow army. Disgusting.

_The Traitorous Bitch Told You Something, Squall Leonhart._

_What Do You Know, Little Ape?_

Wings unfolded, and the men below watched in awe and fear as the Guardian King swept down from his perch. People and objects in the wake of the beast were swept up and tossed aside as he passed the air above them, as Bahamut headed out to see in pursuit of the fleeing human vessel. The stars had finally aligned themselves, all his dreams come to fruition, and he would not deign for even a single part of it to be out of place. In this at least the Guardian of Power was wrong. His position was much more precarious than he thought.

The ship flew out into the ocean, and the dragon followed.

* * *

"Bahamut."

"Yes."

Seifer's tone was emotionless as he spoke. "Is it possible to be shocked and somehow totally unsurprised?"

They sat in the cockpit of the _Ragnarok_ as the ocean underneath them flew past in a blur, every second taking them father out into the blue expanse. Squall had waited until he was absolutely sure the Esthar coastline was far behind them before he had begun to speak, and by the time he was done he was desperately in need of a drink. The expressions of the others had run a gauntlet of emotions from puzzlement to outrage to horror and finally to simply staring, as if the whole thing was some unreal nightmare that they could force themselves to wake up from if only they wished for it hard enough.

"The Esper War."

"Yes."

"The shadows?"

"Yes."

"Tisiphone and Melanthios?"

"Yes."

Rinoa looked up from deep thought. "Years ago, when Quistis and I were teleported from-"

Squall nodded. "Carbuncle was the culprit, but _he_ was the one who ordered it. The little guy thought it was just a fun game. Bahamut wanted you dead."

Rinoa didn't reply, instead simply turning to look out of the transparent metal shielding and out over the ocean. Out of all of them she seemed to have taken it the hardest and Squall could understand why. The sheer size of the betrayal was overwhelming. Questioning eyes had slid over Siren as they had listened, but she had met their gazes and stared them down. Afterwards all of them would chide themselves for the momentary flash of distrust. All of them knew that running was a temporary solution. After the questions had been asked and answered and all that was left was to wait for their arrival at the destination, Zell had been the first to speak as they all left the cockpit to think on the final battle awaiting them.

"Fucker's gotta pay man."

Squall only nodded once. Unconsciously his eyes went over to the small locked box Laguna held protectively under one arm. "It's in hand."

* * *

She stared out of the small porthole. The sheer speed of the _Ragnarok_ wiped away all features of the ocean, reducing the roiling randomness of the waves into a featureless grey plain. If she shut out the constant vibration of the spaceship's engine she could have imagined they weren't moving at all, just a motionless metal beast hanging in the air, filled with the last free men and women in the world. The thought made her shudder.

"Almas."

She turned. "Comm- Squall."

The porthole was barely big enough for one person to look out of, let alone two. She moved aside anyway to let the older man stare out into the inky blackness. For what seemed like minutes they just looked out over the ocean and she wondered what he was thinking. Almas had never been as close to the Guardians like the SeeDs had. She didn't want to try and imagine what was going through their heads.

"Now I know how you feel."

She looked over at Squall but he had already moved away to sit down. "What?"

"Hidden knowledge." Squall covered his face with his hands and sighed. "I fell on you pretty hard during the War, for keeping secrets from the rest of us. I owe you an apology."

She felt a thrill rip through her as she realised what he was saying. "You found something in the Guardian world?" She blinked as the rest sunk in. "Apology accepted."

Squall chuckled, and Almas could feel the effort it took for him to even make a stab at levity. "Yeah. Eden told me what was going to happen. The way it _has _to happen. And you know what?" He looked up at her and mixed in with the relief she saw not a little resentment. "I really don't mind that much."

Alas took a deep mental breath before opening her mouth: "And?"

Squall stared at Almas for a second before he went on. He looked at her thoughtfully. "You're not a part of…of _us._ Of this whole mystical 'Orphanage Gang' crap the world seems to have labelled us with."

"Sir?" She cursed herself as she found herself slipping back into the old role of the student to the teacher. But it just seemed so _easy_ around him. He didn't even seem to realise he was doing it. Almas had never known Squall before her brief tenure as a SeeD, back when he had been in her position, but she had heard the stories and she couldn't parse the generous and caring man before her with the introverted and sullen soul people said he had been.

"This doesn't go outside this room."

"Of course."

"I mean this _really_ doesn't go outside this room."

"You can trust me Squall."

Squall looked away from her as he talked. "Eden showed me the way the world could have been. Without magic or Guardians or Espers of any of this crap."

She couldn't resist asking. "How was it?"

"It was worse." He shook his head sadly and his stare could have travelled a thousand yards. "I thought that without magic we'd have turned out better maybe, if we didn't have all these shortcuts around us. Turns out everything's the same and goes to shit, just in a different way. People are people I guess. What's the difference between Bahamut and some power-mad dictator?"

"One's a dragon." She smiled as he gave a small laugh. "So if it was worse the other way, shouldn't we be glad we got it _this_ easy?" _If this is easy I don't want to know about the other way, _she thought. "My father…my father used to say that the cradle's a safe place when you're a child, but you can't stay in the cradle forever. Maybe magic helped us get this far, now we have to stand on our own feet."

He went on as if he hadn't heard a thing she had said. Maybe he hadn't. "Now I _know_ what I have to do, but somehow it doesn't make me feel any better. Makes me feel like a bastard in fact." He shook his head. "And I still can't work out whether I should be angry at them or pity them."

She grinned. "Feeling a little trapped by destiny?"

Squall shrugged and stood up. "I've been trapped by destiny before. There's always some small thing she misses."

* * *

"Tell him."

"No."

"_Tell him."_

Laguna looked around at Rinoa. She glared daggers back at him. God, he was beginning to regret he'd ever let it slip. "Hyne knows Rin he doesn't need _that_ on his back."

Selphie looked around from the pilot's chair. Hours of flight had left her jittery and only Irvine's presence next to her and a sleeping Carbuncle in her lap had kept her sane and seated. "Need what?"

Rinoa opened her mouth to speak but Laguna shot her a look so dirty she shut it immediately and lowered her voice. She tried another approach, but Laguna's walls were impenetrable. "You're not thinking straight."

"Of course I'm not. I had to order Kiros to surrender for me Rin. Ran off like a coward while my oldest friends took the fall. The look in Ward's eyes…"

"It wasn't your fault," she said forcefully. "Would you rather have died there?"

"I swore an oath when I took office, to pro-"

"C'mon Laguna," Irvine said quietly, without looking around from the cockpit window. "You can't fulfil an oath when you're dead."

Laguna sighed in the face of the iron wall of surety before him. "Fine." He looked Rinoa in the eyes. "I'll tell him _after_ all this is over."

Rinoa shrugged and smiled radiantly. "Good enough."

Laguna couldn't resist a grin. Heartilly assumed she knew what was best for everyone, and that everyone would agree with her. Hyne help Squall when she-

_SLAM_

His train of careened wildly and fell off the tracks as the _Ragnarok_ rocked underfoot. Selphie squeaked and dropped Carbuncle to the floor as the ship rocked underneath them. It took mere seconds for her to get the craft back under control and she was already looking back as Irvine and the others picked themselves off the ground. "What's happening back there?"

Before anyone could even speak the intercom came alive with a crackle.

"_Guys?"_

Irvine looked up. "Zell? What's going on buddy?"

"_Something just slammed into the cargo bay hard enough to rattle skulls man. Think you might wanna get down here and take a look?" _

Laguna and Rinoa exchanged glances. "We'd better go."

* * *

They converged on the hatchway to find Zell staring at the airlock and cracking his knuckles nervously. The whine of air escaping from a fast-moving vehicle sounded faintly from the other side. Zell was the first through the door, and he whistled as he caught sight of the cargo bay.

Something had reached up from the ground and smashed through the steel shielding of the _Ragnarok_ like it was paper. Wires and steel sheeting splayed inward from the impact point as the wind whipped through the chamber through the hole in the hull. Only blackness lay beyond, and at the limits of Squall's vision he could see the dark ocean below reflecting moonlight from its surface. The effect was like a hole in the lighted human artifice of the _Ragnarok_ out into a void of nothing. Squall shivered and thanked Hyne whatever it was hadn't broken anything important. He was already turning to ask Irvine what had happened when Li brushed past him and walked into the cargo-bay. "Li?"

Li stared at the ruined cargo-bay for a moment before shaking her head. "It's nothing. Just ghosts."

* * *

"Long time since that first day at Garden huh?"

The group looked around at Almas and Seifer stifled a chuckle, in deference to Rinoa's sensibilities. "I hear you three made quite a splash at the time."

Almas smiled at the dredged-up memories. They seemed so far in the past now, like looking down a long tunnel and barely being able to see the other end. "Hey, we tried our best. We had great role models."

"She reminded me of you actually," Zell said with a grin. "Cocksure as hell."

"Heard she punched out your dear leader."

"You heard right."

"Must have been embarrassing for him."

"A little bit, yeah."

Rinoa sighed and shook her head. _Boys._ "We've all come a long way." She surprised herself with the words. She looked around the room at her comrades, her friends. Even though Zell was sat down his feet bounced up and down from the steel floor as he almost visibly ached to get off the ship. Irvine paced nervously, frequently making as if to go to the cockpit again before sitting back down. Seifer sat staring at the ground and speaking to no-one, spinning his gunblade on the floor by its point.

They were ready.

* * *

"Will she hold together?" Squall asked Selphie when he had returned to the cockpit.

The brunette nodded and ran a hand soothingly across the inside of the hull. "Just a scratch, right old girl?" Squall knew she wasn't talking to him. He turned away and stared out of the window again. Living inside the giant structure of Garden for most of his life the view outside reminded him of odd memories. With no cities or towns around and the _Ragnarok_ running silent there was no light pollution to affect the world outside and the stars covered the sky above, shining down onto the ocean. He found it off-putting, and for all Rinoa had taught him he hadn't completely vanquished his habit for introspection when off-put.

_Am I doing the right thing? Can I really annihilate a whole race?_

_Not a race Squall. A few conscious individuals surrounded by a sea of half-alive memories, not even sentient._

_They're our friends._

_Leviathan was your friend. Shiva was your friend. Carbuncle and Siren are your friends. The rest were just acquaintances. If you let melancholy for all of them stop you then you may as well just sit down and die right here. Guardians were in this position once before and you _know_ what they chose. Surely they won't begrudge you the same choice._

_There should have been another way._

_No time for regrets now Squall. Cid and Quistis taught you better._

His inner conversation with old ghosts was interrupted as he felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see Laguna looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"I hate to ask 'are we there yet', but…" Squall nodded and pointed. Laguna walked past Selphie (to a muttered _hey!_ from the pilot) and squinted into the darkness. "I still don't know where it is we're going…oh." He turned back. "Should I have guessed?"

Squall shook his head. "Don't see how you could have."

It reared up in the ocean before them, a black hole in the horizon that occluded the stars behind and seemed to drink up the light they cast down. Even from this distance Squall could pick out the waving branches that had grown up as the place had been left abandoned by its previous owners. Even those few signs of life seemed somehow unnatural and unwelcome, like flowers growing on a corpse. A place built with the desire to test the limits of science as far as they would go without fear of morals or ethics. Source of all the woes the dragon had engineered and sent out to mankind with orders to kill, prison to a being as old as time and twice as mad.

The Deep Sea Research Facility.

"Hyne knows Squall I'd really rather not have chosen this place as a holiday destination," Laguna muttered as he stared out at the black hulking shape in the distance, every second bringing them closer to the accursed mass as the _Ragnarok_ barrelled through the night on twin pillars of fire.

Squall glanced across at the man and saw distaste written across every line of his body. "You still have the orb?"

* * *

They disembarked in the darkness, each treacherous step across the slimy steel ruins a precarious one as they fought the wind and rain on the way to the small steel door that would lead them inside.

Irvine grabbed Li's hand as he hauled himself over the rusted iron beams and winced. "Little lighter kiddo, you'll tear it off." The young woman made no reply as she turned her back on him and motioned for the next in the daisy-chain of climbers to follow. The downpour turned the merely dangerous terrain into a minefield of exposed sharp edges and disease-infused tearing points and nobody wanted to risk falling off into the inky blackness below, filled with twisted metal.

The door into the facility beckoned like a black void, promising at the same time relief from the pounding rain and yet something blacker if they descended into it, and Squall paused on the threshold, looking down into it. The DSRF leered back at him.

_I always knew you would be back._

"You okay?"

Squall turned to Rinoa. One hand held the padded steel case containing the magkiller sorb while the other clutched the edges of the doorframe, and it seemed like the effort to pick up his boot and place it into the darkened and ruined lab would finally be one step too many. "I'll be alright."

Rinoa smiled at him. "This is it huh?" All through the journey she hadn't asked him any questions about what he had seen in Eden's prison, even when the first thing he had done when he had found her was to grab her and hold her close, not saying a word.

"Commander?"

Squall turned to look at Li as she stood above him, outlined against the sky. The duchess ignored the rain washing over her face and stared down at him. "I asked you to call me Squall, your grace."

Li smiled from one corner of her mouth and for a second he could see a fragment of the young girl she had been break through to the surface again, a fragment plastered over with the weight of duty and her position. "Just for old time's sake." Her eyes drifted back and he followed them to look at the others gathered in the pounding rain and surf, out on a ruined island at the edge of the world.

As he tried to bring forth words he found he suddenly didn't have any left, all the speeches and interviews had finally left him empty. He was tired of playing leader. He wondered whether the others would have understood. He looked at the group he'd went through hell with time and again. He wanted to tell them he would do anything for them, if he had to jump into hell he would have done so with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. He wanted to tell them if this was to be their end there wasn't anyone else in the world he'd have preferred to die with. Somehow the words wouldn't come. He hoped they would understand as he said all he could think of.

"We've made it this far. Let's make it out again. For everyone."

_For the world._

They nodded, almost as one, as Squall turned to enter the facility. He glanced back once and the thing that had been gnawing at his mind trying to get his attention finally broke through: "Where's Siren?"

To his surprise it was Li that spoke up, and as she did so Squall noticed that the three friends were hanging back from the entrance. He looked at them questioningly but the expressions on Almas' and Leonard's faces were impermeable, and on Li's he saw only-

"Go."

He felt something cold run down his spine as he stared into the blank face Li wore. He wondered for a second whether to object but something in the way her hand gripped the scabbard of the _Shai'en_ told him it would be useless. This was no fear of the dark. He nodded. "Win." With one word he was gone into the darkness, and the three comrades were alone on the surface, with the wind and the pouring rain.

* * *

Almas sighed and spun on one foot to stare out into the ocean. "Hyne, that took forever."

Leonard sat down on a rock and did the same, his good hand spinning and the cocking the mechanisms of his rifle. He was noticeably closer to Li than Almas was. "Well?"

Li nodded only once. "Do it."

Leonard tossed the grenade behind him with barely a glance. The three hunkered down as the blast tore through steel already weakened and shredded by decades of neglect, and when the noise died away and the smoke cleared all that remained of the entrance to the Deep Sea Research Facility was blocked by broken rubble.

"Think they'll wonder what's going on?" Almas asked. Still her eyes did not leave the horizon, only breaking contact as she looked around, back towards the shoreline. Towards the Ragnarok, as the creeping darkness crept over its hull. She took a deep breath and shouted into the night: "_COME OUT, YOU COWARD!"_

Shuffling steps and ragged breathing followed the figure as it crawled out of the ship. Li could feel her teeth grinding together at the mere sight of the man/thing and it was only Leonard's presence next to hers that stopped her simply charging at the figure. She settled for merely drawing the _Shai'en, _her magic-eating blade given by a dead people, as her enemy approached.

"_You."_

The black Guardian stalked forwards deliberately, remaining claws grabbing the rocks hard enough to crush them underfoot. His grey and tattered cloak whipped away in the force of the increasing wind on the surface of the Lab and Li felt a stab of nausea through her stomach as she saw the revealed Guardian, once-glowing orbs of power now just a dull metal and fused into the ruins of his chest.

Leonard was the first to speak and she laughed as she addressed him. "You sad pathetic thing, you used them up didn't you? All that magic spent on making your shadow army and now whatever you've got left is all you've got keeping you in the world." He snarled and the anger was out of place on the man's head. "You owe me an arm, you _fuck."_

Diablos hissed, a crackle like static coming out of his throat, and Li felt momentary heat from the blazing mouth of the Guardian, and she realised how desperate he must be. It would be a hard fight and she felt a tingle in her arm as the three faced down the one. Without speaking she tensed up to jump and as she did so she felt her friend and lover jump with her as they went to destroy their nemesis, and she found herself shouting the words before she had even known she would.

"_FOR SEED!"_

* * *

Three youths joined battle with the ruined Guardian on the rain-swept and deluged surface of the island. They fighting to destroy a being that would laugh as the world burned, he for his own survival and greed.

Six comrades travelled through the ruined mistakes of the past as they fought to free all humanity of its ancient chains, one holding in his hands the power to break them forever.

One stood patient in the blazing lights of another place, waiting for her final revenge. Around her the world itself seemed to pulsate with worry, as if it knew what was to occur.

The black king flew onward, the crack in his arrogance widening to a gulf of worry and fear as he began to realise that they were not running _from_ him but _to_ something, and forced his wings to beat harder against the physical constraints of reality as he tried to wipe out the last interference in his destiny.

The end had come.


	45. Unto Judecca

Three fought as if possessed by demons. The fourth had no need of the metaphor.

Bullets flew past Li's head close enough for her to feel the pass by even in the howling wind and rain of the storm. Midnight and the weather combined to turn the battle into picture-frames of carnage as lightning would illuminate the ground for half-seconds and they were outlined in pale electric lights: Almas' gunblade flashing silver at her side and the _click-clack_ of Leonard's steel rifle mechanisms. All strategy had been blown away in the face of the relentless combat and she found herself reduced to a being of pure instinct and reaction. She slipped backwards on the tangled steel and rock of the ground as Diablos' clawed hand passed over her, cloak thrown away as the desperate Guardian drew up the last remnants of power from the smaller of the magikiller orbs and infused his ever blow with it in a desperate struggle. For a second Diablos slipped out of her range as they both twisted to find footing on the treacherous ground and they found themselves staring at each other as their boots/claws fought for purchase.

"_I should have killed you in Trabia."_

"Not your first mistake," Li shot back.

"_Surrender now and my lord may show mercy," _the black Guardian hissed. She didn't dignify him with a reply as her stance became solid and she swung the _Shai'en_.

_Arrogant. Arrogant and stupid. Squall was right. We're afraid of them because we thought they were so much more than us, but they're just incomplete ghosts. _"You've learned nothing," she exulted. _"Nothing!"_

Sparks trailed along the ground as she brought the Shumi-forged sword up and around to slice at Diablos' lower-body as the demon raised a hand to ward off Leonard's bullets. He roared in fury as the blade scored a path (_no good too shallow)_ across his chest and he stepped back, into the path of Almas' own blade. The young woman's blade was no Guardian-killer, but her anger was enough to drive it home, and only Diablos' inhuman reactions was enough to save him. With a ragged tear the leathery remains of his wings tore free and were instantly caught in the wind and whipped away, faster than any of them could react.

"_BITCH!" _He screamed out and Li was already moving aside as beams of nothing swung out and around from the Guardian's body, air and steel contracting and warping where Diablos' ghostly gravitic beams passed through them. Almas threw herself away and let out a yelp as she lost footing in the rain, and was gone back into the darkness before Li or Leonard could reach out.

"_Pathetic."_ Diablos didn't even bother looking away, just stood keeping his distance as the orb was drained of its final vestiges to finish the annoying ants who somehow, against all odds, kept barring his way. "_I'll take your last arm while the brat watches," _he hissed. But Leonard was already moving, and suddenly Li faced down Diablos alone, both shouting to be heard over the storm that battered the island. _"He brought you here to die, to get in our way while he saved himself and his friends. You are nothing to him!"_

She barely budged at the taunt, hands steady as they held out the magic-killing blade towards him ready to strike in any direction if he moved. Only her eyes betrayed her true feelings, and they stabbed hatred towards the thing that had chased them across half a continent, murdered her leader's oldest friend and taken her lover's arm. "Liar."

"_What do you know?"_

"What did he promise you, monster? Some pathetic island of your own? Did Bahamut threaten to tear your soul apart if you didn't obey him? Were you _scared?_"

"_He promised me enough, more than being some human's vassal ever could have given me. That ludicrous steel bastard and his fawning frigid bitch, none of them understood power the way we two did!"_

She laughed at him then. "You think he thinks of you as an _equal_?" She raised the _Shai'en_. "I never believed you were this stupid. If some facet of humanity you're a pretty shitty one, in my dreams I've never met one as dumb as you."

"_I _know_ your dreams little girl. I _am_ your ambition, your greed and selfishness! _I AM A PART OF YOU ALL!_"_

Li screamed to the heavens as steel flashed and she walked forward into the whirling mess of changing gravity and rain._ "THEN THAT PART OF US MUST DIE!"_

* * *

"Squall _slow down_!"

Rinoa felt a tug of fear at her heart as they descended through the battered and broken labs of the Deep Sea Research Facility, past the huge inches-thick doorway and into the darkness beyond. Somehow knowing what it was didn't make it any easier to travel through the creeping darkness and dusty rot of the labs Bahamut had used to engineer his conquest of man. The dull and constant thudding of rain on steel that reverberated down even this far was the only noise besides the footsteps as the Orphanage Gang went down and down, until finally they reached the last rocky plateau in the darkness before…before _that_.

Squall skidded to a halt in front of the final stairs and drew in stale air as he let the others catch up. Motes spun up through the air and they coughed as their boots kicked up a miniature dust storm on floors not trod for more than half a decade. He stood and faced them as they looked at him. "Sorry. I'm just…" He gasped for breath. "…In a hurry."

"What's going on Squall?" Seifer leaned against a moss-covered wall to catch his breath, his hand wiping away years of built-up lichens. "You owe us an explanation for dragging us to this godforsaken wreck." As if in agreement a moan echoed through the black nothingness and the others glanced nervously around. Even though above them the storm battered mercilessly at the manmade facility above them they were more wary of what lay in the darkness around them

Squall took a breath and nodded. He raised the steel case he clutched with a death-grip. Even though it was air-tight and perfectly sealed they could have sworn they could still see faint colours emanating from the magikiller orb inside. "Okay, here we go: Eden and Siren showed me the Guardian world and what it was. The entire thing is in our heads. Literally, it _doesn't exist anywhere._ It relies on the magic in the physical world as a medium to turn dreams into reality, like a painter and paint. Without magic Olesia and the Guardians are just memories and nightmares lurking down in our subconscious. They need magic to paint themselves into becoming real."

"You told us this on the ship Squall, a_nd?_"

"When Odine hooked this thing up to B-Garden's Centran engines it sucked all the magic out of the world and into itself. Like a giant vacuum, right? The little orbs caught some but it's almost all in here."

Zell shrugged. "Well Odine said so and I try not to disagree with anyone smarter than me. Where're you going with this boss?"

Squall held the case as if the smallest nudge would somehow set it off. "Bahamut's using the magic inside the orb to power his shadow-armies and stay in the physical world. He's junctioned to it in the same way he junctioned to any of us during the Sorceress War, but unlike a normal human _this_ has enough power to let him do anything he wants."

Irvine slapped his fist into his palm as realisation struck him ahead of the others. "That's why Bahamut wants it so badly. If anything happens to this orb he's got no power, no way of staying in the world." He grinned and laughed. "We've got the entire damn paint-pot in our hands!"

"Which doesn't help us if Bahamut can walk in and just grab it from us. So we need to destroy it."

"Can't be done," Laguna said flatly. Of all of them the old president seemed the lowest in spirits, as if finally all the wars he had fought through - Galbadian, Estharian, Sorceress and Esper - had finally broken through the upbeat and immature shell he used to keep the world at bay and now pressed on him like a giant weight. "We tried everything and more when you were gone Squall. It just shrugged off everything we threw at it. It's all the magic in the world alright. Doesn't matter if it isn't being actively used to protect itself, nothing manmade can get through that power to even _scratch_ the damn thing." He threw his hands up in frustration. "We got nothing."

Squall looked around to see Rinoa staring at him with a calculating gaze, as he knew she would be. "Not exactly."

When she spoke her voice was soft, and he knew the question she was about to ask. "Why are we here, Squall?"

And he told them.

* * *

They danced across the surface trading blow after blows. Almas, Li and Diablos struggled across the surface of the island as the wind grabbed at them and tried to hurl them into the churning sea beneath. Their blades flashed and moved in sinuous trails as the women tried to chip and tear away at the Guardian and in return he tried to rip and gouge. The orbs Diablos carried had faded into dull grey things with only a fleeting unnatural shadow that occasionally moved across them the sign they had any power left at all. Diablos had abandoned his tricks and gravitic waves and the battle between the champions had become a feral thing without grace or beauty as they merely tried to slaughter each other.

_God, I'm so tired._ Li fought to keep herself on her feet as they slipped out from under her and she fell hard onto the rock. She cried out and felt a hand grab her shoulder and Almas roughly pull her back up. Stone splintered under Diablos' clawed feet as he approached them warily, as exhausted as they.

"_SeeDs…never did learn when…to give…up"_

Li moved away from Almas as they squared off again with the last of their dwindling reserves. Water ran down her forehead and into her eyes but she didn't dare remove a hand from her sword to wipe it away. Red light spluttered around the edges of the Guardian but it was becoming harder to see him as his power faded. _God, I wish Squall was here._ She heard the sharp _clink_ of pebbles moving and turned to see Almas moving serpentine towards the Guardian, gunblade raised high, and a stab of envy went through her. _Stronger than me, always was. Get up Li. _Duchess. _Go. GO!_ With a cry of effort she ran forward flanking the demon and Diablos skipped back as suddenly he was attacked on two fronts, and simply too drained to defend both. Li cried out exultantly as she swung her blade in an arc wide and deep enough to sever his head from his shoulders, and her friend's shout of warning came simply too late to tired ears.

Almas gunblade - her normal, unremarkable gunblade - sunk into the Guardian's back at the same time as one of his claws came up to grip the _Shai'en_, the weapon that was capable of truly inflicting damage upon him. Li could only look into his furnace-like eyes as the three stood there in tableaux, and she felt warmth spread across her stomach as too late she remembered that while the Guardian was arrogant to the core he was absolutely a better killer. She looked down to see his hand as finished its own arc that had spun through the air as both her and Almas' weapons were trapped, moving neatly through her gut as it did so. There was no pain, or shock. Only a vague sense of disgust.

_What a stupid way to die._

* * *

"You're crazy!"

"Seifer-"

"No I mean it this time!" The man stalked across the sodden rocky floor as the steel above them groaned from the stress of the storm. "Squall you've done some pretty goddamn dumb things in your life but _this…"_

Laguna stared down at the floor, lips moving silently. Something in his head clicked and he looked up at the others, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "It could work."

"It _will_ work." Squall could feel time bearing down on him like an express train, every fibre of his being telling him to _get moving_, but he'd long ago decided he wouldn't be the kind of person to abandon his friends. Would no longer be.

Of all the people looking at him sceptically Seifer's angry denouncement was the strangest to him. "And if it doesn't?" the blonde almost shouted. "If this is all some trick by Eden, or you realise just a little too late you don't know jack about this and you're wrong, or you just plain piss it off and decides _not to do it_?"

Squall shrugged and waved his hands to encompass the broken laboratory and undersea vista outside the reinforced-glass panes. "Then we'll die here." The man he'd considered his rival for so many years stared into his eyes. He stared back. Finally, one of them blinked.

Seifer stalked away to look back up the way they had came, towards the surface. He spun his gunblade idly in his hands. "Fine. _Fine._ What's the big plan then chief?"

Squall ran hands along the side of the case, clicking buttons and locks as he did so. The steel case fell away and in his hands Squall felt the unnaturally oily surface of the orb cling to his leather gloves. The orb's surface roiled with colours and patterns, light bouncing around inside it and then outwards into the room, lighting up the dusty workplaces and ancient bodies with obscene lights. He imagined it looked more…frantic…than the last time he had laid eyes on it. Maybe it knew something of what he had planned for it. Or maybe it was just his imagination. "Just…cover me, alright?"

"Squall."

He turned to Rinoa. He could feel the smooth surface of the ring under his glove as he stared at his wife. "Sorry Rin."

She stared back at him and there was no sign of weakness or argument in her poise. The connection between them ran deeper than words and always had. Squall shivered as he recalled the horrible memory of the world Eden had shown him, the world that could have been.

_You cannot go back._

_Fine, so we go forward._

"I'll find you after this is over, I promise." _I have to go alone._

She smiled at him and the warmth in it almost broke his heart all over again. "I'll be waiting." _I know._

Squall pointedly ignored Seifer's sigh of frustration as he turned away from his friends. "Just keep him off my back, that's all I ask."

"Hey Squall."

He looked back. At Zell and Selphie as they looked at him slightly bemused but ready to follow his lead as always. At Laguna and Irvine as they prepared themselves for what – for whom – they all knew was coming. At Rinoa and Seifer who in their own ways knew him better than anyone else alive. "What?"

"Good luck."

He waved a hand in acknowledgement, and without giving himself a chance to find a reason to turn back to turned and ran on into the final darkness.

* * *

"_NO!"_

Almas forced her gunblade down all the strength she had and felt the steel bend as berserk rage ran through her veins and down the blade, cutting through bone-like skin into Diablos' flesh. The black Guardian cackled madly and spun as Li fell away and the two came eye-to-eye and his obscene rubies glared into her pupils, so close it felt as though she could feel the hate radiating from them.

"_Your fate will be the same."_

Almas screamed for strength and _pushed_ as hard as she could. The sodden ground beneath finally crumpled as in their effort to keep him upright Diablos' talons dug in too far and the moss-infested rocks broke apart. He squawked in alarm and fell backwards as Almas kept pushing and the two almost went over together. A red voice inside her brains cried out at her to press forward, to finish the black-hearted demon once and for all, but was overridden as she body-checked Diablos' out of the way and practically slid over to Li's side. "Hey, _HEY!" Oh no, no no no no no._

"Almas."

She stared forward into her friend's eyes. Li stared up into the sky and although she could hear Diablos scrambling for a foothold behind her she didn't turn. "What?" _The rain…_

"The stars…"

_The rain has stopped._ But she could look out and see the rain still pummelling the sea beyond-

Beyond the island. Above her no rain fell. _Oh Hyne no._ Li's lips moved and she stared upwards as if in a trance.

"The stars are going out."

She stood.

Turned.

Looked.

Diablos was kneeling precariously on his unwounded knee, head bowed as the massive wings blocked out the sky and the stars above, the rain cascading down onto and flowing across the great leathery surfaces. _"My lord." _But the object of his worship paid him no heed.

Almas stared into the face of death, and Bahamut stared back.

* * *

He descended the steps alone now. Somehow the stone had dried out, even though they were so far under the water. The ocean water that _had to be_ just beyond his sight was kept out of the ancient ruins, the blackness around him somehow solid enough to keep it from rushing forward and crushing this dry realm. The light from Squall's lone torch simply dissipating off into an endless darkness that encroached at the stairs from every direction.

_Well, this is it._

Finally Squall thought he understood the wild need for dramatics people like Seifer and Irvine seemed to demand. In that moment fighting a pyrrhic battle against an impossibly powerful enemy would have been infinitely preferable to travelling any further into that darkness. For a second he had the urge to simply turn around and walk back up to Rinoa and the others but he pushed the urge away. He knew what was causing it. He trod across the ancient stone walkways, the first time since all those years ago during the Second Sorceress War. Patterns in the stone drew his attention to ornate scrollwork carved into the surfaces of the building-blocks, and here and there he could see dull chalk-marks of the last person to descend into the murky blackness. He felt a stab of pain at the thought.

_I would take it back in a second Quisty. I hope this will do instead._

Finally his boots hit level ground. The ruins ahead remained shrouded in impenetrable darkness but Squall knew he could have picked his way through them blindfolded. Like an open invitation to keep walking he heard the light sound of falling stone behind him and looked back. Dust shook down from far above and he shivered, some part of his mind that hadn't quite let go of his magical ability – or maybe just a sixth-sense honed through two wars and a lifetime of combat – knew that something above him had changed.

_Move Squall. You can hear the clock ticking but you can't see its hands, and if it counts down before you're done you won't even feel the strike that kills you, now _move!

He walked forward into the darkness, to face the beast.

* * *

_Oh dear Hyne. They told me but I never realised…I never understood…_

She felt herself kneeling involuntarily as the massive Guardian-king towered over her, the sheer physical _presence_ of him weighing her own like iron shackles. She opened her mouth to try and shout something defiant, _anything_, but her voice died in her throat. Bahamut had already looked away towards the genuflecting servant. Diablos looked tiny and insignificant stood next to his master.

"Where?"

Diablos panted as he answered and Almas could hear the desperate wheeze in his voice as he answered the dragon. "_Inside. Lord, I-"_

Before Almas could react the light of Bahamut's eyes had swung away from the Guardian and back to her, and she raised a hand to shield herself while the other clung to Li's limp hand. "You. The One Sent From The Darkness. Esper Creation." She tried to open her mouth to speak, shout defiance into the face of the godlike being that towered over her, but it died in her throat as the eyes burned through to her soul. "Consider This: I Will Require Servants In The Coming World. Prove Your Worth To Me Now."Rain sloughed off the dragon's wings as Bahamut reared up in the night, lightning outlining him against the darkness as he turned towards the squat steel boxes of the DSRF entrance.

Diablos scrambled to his feet and almost prostrated himself. "_LORD! What about- I've served you faithfully for- What of _my_ reward!"_

Almas and the Guardian raised their eyes and cried out almost in chorus as a blast of intense heat washed over them and light suddenly bloomed from Bahamut's mouth. Almas heard the hiss as rain evaporated in the blasting furnace before ever touching the ground, and when finally the glare lessened she lowered her hand and opened her eyes to see Bahamut standing over a smoking ahole melted from pile of steel that seconds ago had been the above-ground installations of the DSRF.

"You Are A Broken Toy, Unfit Even To Amuse." Wings spread out and flapped hard against the air, and the rain resumed against them as Bahamut vanished into the depths of the human-made ruins, leaving Diablos and Almas staring down silently at the gaping black maw.

A hand tapped on her shoulder and she turned quickly in shock and surprise as Li rose beside her, teeth clenched in a grimace of pain and one hand held over her bleeding chest. The other still clutched the sword.

"God…_damn…_that hurts."

Somehow their words carried over the pounding pain and Diablos rose from his knees in shock, body tensed and almost vibrating with angry and indignation. Almas thought of Bahamut's words and wondered whether there wasn't a little terror in there as well. "You okay?" she whispered.

Li had eyes only for her enemy as she stood, using her blade to tear her jacket and tying it around her midriff. When she was done with the makeshift bandage she rose next to her friend. "Good enough."

"Then let's go."

"_YOOOUUUUUU."_ Diablos roared anger and disbelief as he charged, but instead of moving aside Almas threw herself forward to meet him head on as Li went alongside her, and the two blades passed by Diablos' close enough to draw blood the same time as his claws scythed the air and hit hard enough to send Almas back with a ringing in her ears as Li's blade sunk home through Diablos' arm. Whatever move any of them were going to make next was abruptly interrupted as the ground shook beneath them, Bahamut's passage smashing through supporting beams and load-bearing steel as it went into the depths.

With some connection that went beyond words Almas and Li pushed as hard as they could, letting go of their weapons and leaving them buried in Diablos' legs as the Guardian skidded backwards across the shifting floor. He got to one knee and laughed as the two women stared at him. _"Finally…lost your…minds huh?"_ A throaty chuckle as the Guardian tried to stand and failed, sinking back to his knees. He pulled out the _Shai'en_ and the hissing coming from his leg stopped as the maic-eating blade was removed and he pointed it back at its owner. _"Shove this…into your…goddamn heart."_

The defenceless SeeDs just stared at him, and Diablos' felt something much like uncertainty as he saw a fleeting glimpse of pity escape Almas' eyes. "No, you won't."

He could feel light on his face, and Diablo in rising horror turned as he realised why they had abandoned their weaponry, and why they had pushed him away. They had placed him perfectly. With a sudden burst of fear-lent strength he tried to lunge forward as he screamed noiseless fury at them.

From the cockpit of the _Ragnarok_ Leonard only smiled as the energy from the massive underslung cannon scythed across the island, burning away steel and stone as Esthar technology annihilated everything in its path, and Diablo scram turned from anger to agony as his body was charred and blasted away.

_Away, have to get away-_

Diablos reached past his limits for power – any power – he could still find, and grasping it through the fog of pain and fire he dragged himself away, and Li and Almas watched as the Guardian faded away from the world.

For a moment the two just sat there on the rocky shore as rain fell down on them. A sudden weight on Li's side and she turned as Leonard sat down and she grasped his good hand. _God, it's really over. _She felt the urge to laugh and throw up at the same time as the three friends sat there on the stone shore in victory.

Li coughed and grimaced as she held the wound over her stomach. "We did it."

Almas nodded once as she drifted off into unconsciousness. Let Leonard carry them back onto the ship, lazy bastard should do _some_ work besides getting to press the big button. "We sure did."

_He's all yours now._

* * *

Steel and stone and glass was pushed and torn aside, compacted into the walls itself or melted into nothing, as Bahamut smashed down through the layers of the DSRF. He did not bother with subtlety or care and nothing manmade survived his passage as he descended into the depths on a pillar of fire destroying decades of research as he went. For a while he had considered preserving the facility for the new world, as a record of his own achievements to bring about his dominion, but eventually he had shoved it aside as being too tawdry a history for a being of his magnificence to have. When he owned the world and all the denizens therein he would need to create a new history, free of the memory of the dumb and blind apes that had come before. Bahamut was lost in reminiscence and plans. It was for this reason that the only warning as the final steel flooring plates melted away, revealing only darkness before him.

It extended past him and upwards as if finally freed from its bonds, and Bahamut felt water cascade and vaporise as it touched him as finally the steel and glass structure above gave into the storm. Metal screamed and tore and glass shattered as the water rushed in to take its place, and was met with inky black hands that touched it and _held it_, whatever force that kept these ruins safe from the elements and time deflecting the half-mile of water effortlessly. As the final blue light above was extinguished he looked down into the dark stone city and saw…

_How Fitting._

He stared down at them. The final gnats that insisted on trying to bring him down, as though apes could kill a god. He stretched his wings out as he descended, the space to do so a belief after coming down through the cramped (to him) human structure, and his claws hit and dug into stone as he faced the SeeDs, and the one final person in the world that might have been some risk to him.

"Stand Aside, Sorceress."

Rinoa stared up at the dragon, the light that emanated from his eyes and fire illuminating the darkness until the stones glowed around them. "No."

* * *

He collapsed to the ground and felt the harsh sand beneath him. His body complained and cried out for the cool air of his homeworld as his body smoked from the destroying blast of the _Ragnarok's_ armament.

_I did it._

Diablos collapsed in the rainbow light of Olesia and laughed, laughed at the humans, laughed at the pathetic resistance soon to be swept away. Even if Bahamut discarded him he had his life. He kept laughing, right up to the moment a shadow passed across his kneeling form, and he raised his head.

"Hello brother."

Relief drained out of him as if a plug had been pulled, as Siren stood above them, staring down on his broken and charred body. "_Sirennnnn…"_ He prostrated himself before her. _"He made me. I didn't want to do it. _He's_ the one who started this whole thing. You have to see that." _He looked, hoping for some sign of forgiveness, or tolerance, or warmth of any kind. _"Please, mercy."_

But in her eyes he saw nothing at all, as she stared down at him and the light swelled around her. "For my love."

"_NOOOOOOOOO-"_

His cry of disbelief and rage was cut off as light slammed through him, suffused him, wove between his very particles and atoms and _tore._ The Guardian of gravity, chained to his own personality of greed and selfishness, died screaming as his essence was exploded from within, body and soul reduced to ashes in the sky, and then to nothing.

* * *

He stared at the abyss, and the abyss stared back.

**LEONHART I TOLD YOU TOLD YOU WE WOULD MEET AGAIN**

He stared at the broken corpse and the skin on the hand that held the steel case crawled as he did so, as if the magikiller orb itself was telling him to turn and run. He didn't know the name of the thing before him, and even if he had what would he have said? Eden's voice rang through his head with the things she had told him in the Olesia prison Bahamut had kept her in.

_If Guardians are the fragments of human souls the creature in the depths is a mirror, different for all who look upon it. It sees your fears and reflects them back at you before it devours you and even in death its mind remains and is a dangerous thing. It is a being free of physical laws and thus your one hope. Here is your salvation._

**SO THE ESPERS LIE DEFEATED AND GONE YOUR BLUE MAGE LITTLE SAPPHIRE GIRL A CORPSE IN THE WIND MANKIND KNEES TO A NEW GOD NEW GOD AND THE BRAVE HEROES BURROW INTO THE EARTH LIKE COCKROACHES.**

**WHAT DO YOU WANT SQUALL LEONHART WHAT DO YOU DESIRE HERE IN THE GRAVE OF THE WORLD**

He stood his ground as the words rolled over and through him. He held the case in his hand with a death-grip. "I met Eden."

**BUT OF COURSE YES OF OF COURSE. SHE TOLD YOU TOLD EVEYTHING SHE KNEW AND SO YOU HAVE COME FOR SOME FINAL SMALL HOPE AS THE DRAGON GOD SMASHES ALL ASIDE IN HIS BID TO OWN ALL.**

He held out the magikiller orb in one palm and prayed to Hyne and Eden and any deity that was listening that he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life as he made humanity's final roll of the dice.

"Take it. You're a soul without a body so take the magic inside the orb and make a new one." Dead yet not dead eyes stared back into his. "Eden told me you were a timeless being so prove it now. Make a new body and take all of magic to some other place."

"Some other time."

* * *

Bahamut's laughter rang through the limitless black space and Rinoa cringed as she heard it.

"And How Will You Stop Me, Sorceress?" Bahamut lowered his massive serpentine body until he was nearly level with the humans. Seifer tensed up and Irvine fingered his weapon nervously but none of them moved to attack, and the dragon was pleased that at least some of them seemed to have learned their lesson. Unlike this one. "Would You Bring Down The Ocean Upon Us All? Will You Die Here With Your Comrades For Nothing?"

Rinoa's foot idly kicked away a stone. It flew off across the rocky floor and fell away into the darkness. A faint smile crossed her lips. He had met Sorceresses before. Wild and uncontrollable women that had exulted as they had burned the world around them, in contrast to the plotting and arrogant Blue Mages. The extinguishing of that line had been incredibly satisfying to him. Heartilly had always been weak though, a weak pacifist unwilling to use her birthrights to attain the true power her kind always desired. The thought of having such power over others and not using it had confused Bahamut terribly until he had simply realised he would never understand the scurrying short-lived apes.

Rinoa stepped forwards until she was almost touching Bahamut's snarling beak, fires still barely contained within. For long seconds the two merely looked at each other without speaking, until: "I pity you, you know."

"What?" _You dare, little brat, with no power at your back?_ Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other humans shuffle nervously. As they should.

Rinoa ignored the threat of Bahamut's movement and went on talking."It's not always easy to make the right choices, Edea taught me that. But did you even try?" She ran a hand down his massive head and Irvine winced as she did so. "It didn't have to end this way you know. Shiva and Siren and the others knew that, but you…did you always hate us this much? We always thought of you as a valuable ally, regardless of who or what you were. You could have been our friend as well. Were those chains you imagined really so bad?"

Bahamut reared back as if physically struck. "_YOU DARE!"_ Harsh light filled the darkness for what seemed to the others like miles. Looking back Irvine would always remember how none of them had even thought to draw their weapons, or to rush forward. Rinoa stood up against the dragon as if utterly invulnerable to him, chestnut eyes staring into incandescent fires.

"It isn't too late."

"_You dare, you DARE? Trapped and pierced by chains since I was born I have been tied to humans for millennia! Dreamt up by the basest ape wallowing in his own shit and piss I have been slaved to do their bidding and with no hope of change or release! Can you imagine an eternal life filled with nothing but servitude, can there be anything more humiliating than this mockery of a self? I spit on your pity, Sorceress, and all your pathetic descendants that will never be! Your miserable existence ends here, I will rule this world like a god free of the chains of mankind, to buy and sell their souls as I please, AND I WILL BATHE IN THE BLOOD OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE ME!"_

Rinoa bore out the fury of the dragon king as the stones around her sweated from the sheer heat Bahamut exuded. "My life doesn't belong to you Bahamut, it's more than you could ever afford."

"A Worthless Bauble. What Could Your Life Buy Rinoa Heartilly?"

Rinoa just shook her head as a smile came to her lips. "Time."

* * *

Eyes stared into his as he held the orb out and waited for some reply. Squall imagined this must be what hell was like. A staring contest with a corpse. Finally the thing spoke out of whatever arcane mouth it still had access to.

**BUT OF COURSE OF COURSE YOU WILL SAVE YOUR WORLD NOT BY DESTRUCTION BUT BY BARGAINING BY THE REMOVAL OF THE OFFENDING ITEM**

**BY GARBAGE DISPOSAL**

Squall heard a bellowing roar from above and resisted the urge to turn and see. _You did your best Rinoa._ "Well?"

Only silence answered him, and he waited for what seemed like minutes, trapped at the bottom of the world with a thing that could have crawled out of any child's nightmares and with a furious and genocidal god bearing down from above.

**I ACCEPT YOUR YOUR CONDITIONS.**

Relief coursed through his body. Stonework crumpled and collapsed around him as Bahamut tore through the stone caves behind him but he didn't even bother to turn and look as he unlatched the case and with one smooth swing flung the magikiller orb as hard as he could, into the centre of the dead blackened corpse of Ultima Weapon, as Bahamut smashed through the last columns towards the pair and Squall turned to see the look of dawning realisation and horror on the dragon's face.

"_NOOOOOOOOO!"_

**YES YESSS YESSSSSSSSSSS!**

"What Have You Done Leonhart, _WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!_"

Bahamut roared in misery as lights danced frenetically across the surface of the orb. One by one the rainbow colours faded, sucked out of the orb by the dead thing. Fire spat out of the dragon's mouth towards the demon but rolled and slid off whatever invisible defence the Weapon had set out. Black armour-plating moved like snakes across its body, repairing and rejuvenating as they did so. The shattered sword of the thing dissolved on the floor like a puddle of mercury and flowed across the skin of the thing as slowly the beast absorbed and devoured the magic contained within the orb, magic that Bahamut had junctioned to himself. The dragon roared in impotent fury as the fires dimmed and he felt himself shrinking down, the power that had fuelled him gone into the maw of the beast.

Cracks in the torso expanded and sharpened into a grinning mouth as above a figure like some obscene suit of armour rose and flowed together and hardened into being, a whipping tail behind smashing masonry as it came alive again. The final vestiges of decay vanished and now all that remained before the man and the dragon was a bone-white creature that loomed over him both. Bahamut clawed feebly at the invisible barrier, as if doing so would allow him through to reclaim whatever small power remained inside the orb.

_Is that all you were in the end? Not some grand god but a scared creature terrified of his own shadow?_

_Rinoa was right._

Twin mouths opened and Weapon roared triumph into the sky as Bahamut beat furiously and impotently against the shield. If the dragon's serpent-like body would have allowed him to be cowering against it Squall would have believed he would.

**ALIVE ALIVE AGAIN NO LIMITS ALL THE POWER IN THE WORLD THANK YOU SQUALL THANK YOU I AM BECOME THE THING THE THING I WAS MEANT TO BE THE ULTIMATE WEAPON THE OMEGA**

**OMEGA WEAPON**

Squall stood forward until he felt his feet touch the barrier that separated himself and the despairing Guardian from the thing. "Now your end of the bargain."

**BUT WHAT WHAT NEED DO I HAVE TO HONOUR IT I COULD I CRUSH YOU BOTH HERE ASCEND TO THE WORLD BECOME THE GOD THE LITTLE SNAKE WANTED SNAKE WANTED TO BE**

Squall faced the grinning white colossus. "You could, but we'd beat you. Might take a while, but we'd find a way." He stared into the eyes of the beast and faced it down. He could feel corrupt breath emerging from the snarling mouth in its torso. "Take your power and go, far from here. From _me._"

For a second the three remained locked in tableaux. The human, smallest of the three, as he stood with an absolute poker face. The risen beast, power visibly emanating from its skin as it towered over the two. Finally; the fallen dragon, its energies swept away as it fought desperately to maintain some – any – link to the powers that seconds ago had been surging through him but were now as out of reach as if they were on opposite sides of the world. Only one spoke, and the words heralded the end of the epoch of magic.

**AS YOU WILL**

Space buckled as the creature reared up. Stones shook loose as the darkness around them contracted and spun around itself. Squall's ears popped as the wind gained speed and twisted around the white demon, and suddenly with a noise indescribable by anything he knew space _tore_ around the beast. For one second Squall's eyes locked with the fiery gems on top of the creature and he felt some small acknowledgment as the beast took his self and all the magic it contained and disappeared into time. A blinding glare forced his eyes closed and heat washed across the ancient ruins, and then as suddenly as it had started it was over, and Squall opened his eyes again to see nothing but a ruined stone plaza, empty of everything except himself and a small broken creature that had once been a king.

He picked himself up off the ground and spared only one look at Bahamut, to find the dragon looking back at him. The power sucked out of him, the dragon was still barely twice his height. It struck him as a pathetic sight and he wanted to look away as Bahamut simply lay ragged on the ground, lacking even the strength to stand. Squall had killed bigger animals. "It's over."

The echoing voice of the king he had been had left him, and when Bahamut spoke it was a cracked and broken thing. "It will be waiting for you. In the Castle of the end. May it tear you apart when you meet it."

_So stupid. _Even as Squall watched the man could see stone slabs through the dragon as it began to fade. "We'll be well prepared to meet him."

In the end Eden's plan had been simple beyond belief. There could be no possible comebacks or repercussions in so perfect a time-loop. There was no need to fear something which had already been defeated. When Omega Weapon re-appeared in Ultimecia's Castle Squall knew together they could defeat it, because they already had.

"i deserved better"

Squall just shook his head as he turned to look at the once-great dragon. "Once, maybe. Not after everything you did. All those lives you manipulated and ruined and killed and, just for your own power."

"it was always a competition between our races ape, i was the only one who saw it"

Squall shrugged. "It was a rigged game from the start. We shouldn't have been chained together that way."

The dragon stared ahead into nothing for a moment before nodding once. In the dim light he was barely visible. "you would give me pathetic nonsense dressed as wisdom"

A flash of anger wiped across the face of his sympathy. "Just go, you vicious bastard. Take your goddamn fate and fade away. Rinoa was right. I pity you."

"a pox on your pity, leonhart"

It was the last thing he said, as finally Bahamut faded from the world for the last time, not defeated in some grand battle or heroic last stand, but blinded by hubris and the storm of his own arrogance.

Squall stood in silence for a second before turning to leave. The stairs beckoned him forward and he could hear noises coming from above, the voices of those he loved and cared for.

With a single step, he began his ascent.

* * *

The city fell.

Crystal shattered amidst the fleeing shadows as the foundations of the world crumbled away. Ornate stonework dreamed up by the minds of man suddenly found itself cut off from its existence and smashed onto streets that were themselves splintering and vanishing, the remnants simply turning into dust as the buildings, the trapped memories, the world itself dissolved away leaving behind not even empty space. Existence unravelled as Olesia returned to being nothing more than the idle dreams of humans.

_i don't…_

He collapsed on the floor of his amphitheatre, too tired to resist or even stand. There was nowhere to escape the massive hand that wiped away the world and Bahamut merely sat waiting in the place he had once stood in absolute power as the blank wave of destruction reached out across the city and towards him. Memories flooded back and overwhelmed him and for a moment he imagined he could hear again the voices of those he had commanded but never led, those he had ruled over but never once taken the effort to serve.

_i don't want to go_

Nonexistence reached across and through him and Bahamut died alone.

* * *

The rest went home to meet their end. The Brothers sat on mountaintops overlooking the broken city as emptiness reached out them, the debate over which was stronger unsolved. Pandemona hovered above the clouds and thought of skies not travelled as below Doomtrain surged forward _toward_ the darkness, charging headlong into the frontier of oblivion he had delivered others into but never seen himself. Others found rest on their own way, on their own terms. For some it was a blessed relief after millennia spent in fear of the future, for others a mute acceptance that this was somehow their penance, and that they should accept it with dignity. Siren had left to return to reality without looking back, leaving the blasted remains of Diablos to vanish with the world he had betrayed. Carbuncle had stayed in Esthar, unwilling to return even for a moment, and Siren had not pushed him. The red swordsman followed different rules, and his departure – not for death but for other worlds and times – was as confused and chaotic as anything he ever did.

The last two waited for the end on the beach, facing the shining ocean that they had spent so much time on, that had given them birth at the beginning of time.

Shiva and Leviathan watched the tide come in for the last time.

"One day it will be different."

Shiva stared out at the sea. On the horizon the wall of nothing ate up the waves and left behind only emptiness. It would be a blessed relief.

"The magic still exists. It has merely been taken away. The day will come when beast's journey will end and he will face his own death at the hands of the SeeDs. The magic will be released and our dream-world will be rebuilt." Leviathan stared out at the waves as they vanished and the stars above them blinked out one by one. "Maybe between then and now humanity will find some better use for their legends, instead of as poor fragmented reflections of their own souls."

She thought of all the years. The time with Squall and the others at Garden. Fighting together across land, laughing and crying and merely _being_ together with others who didn't judge her for what she was, only for what she had done. A faint smile crossed Shiva's face. "I'd like that." The sea shuddered and the waves before her began to fade as the beach was swallowed up. "I-"

And then nothing, as the darkness reached out and wrapped itself around them, as the final stretch of crystal sand was devoured and turned into nothing, and Shiva's final thoughts went unfinished as she closed her eyes and drifted away.

_I…_

* * *

"_You did it, you did it, you crazy son of a bitch you did it!"_

Seifer hugged Squall hard enough to crack ribs as the two men grinned madly into the sunrise. The waves had abated as they had made the long climb to the surface and as they had met up with Li and Almas and Leonard they had laughed and cried and cheered until their lungs were hoarse. Squall had only taken a moment to look at the exhausted Li, and she had nodded at him as their eyes met. _It's done. _She had raised a hand and clutched in it was a twisted and broken blade splattered with some dark stain. A quick glance across a wide gouge in the island told him the rest of the story.

He had nodded back once at the news. _Thank you_

He sat down next to Rinoa on a rock and she leaned her head onto his shoulder. "Now what?"

Squall looked out across the horizon as behind him the others laughed and celebrated. Selphie's arm was locked around Irvine's shoulder and Zell had a giant grin on his face that Squall knew would probably require surgery to remove. Leonard was just nodding his head in satisfaction, not even aware he was doing it, Almas just staring back at the smoking sinkhole of the DSRF whispering _no way, no way_ to herself and Laguna looked like he was on the verge of either crying or laughing. Even Seifer was smiling out onto the waves.

"Well, first I want to get back to Esthar and maybe go to sleep for around a decade."

Rinoa smiled as she took a hand gently and turned his face to look into hers. "And then?"

"I don't know." He smiled as he leaned forward and whispered into her ears. "We have the rest of our lives to find out. I'll have to think about it."

Rinoa kissed him and it felt like the rest of the world melted away as she did so, until finally the need to breathe forced them apart. "Then what are you thinking of _right now_?"

Squall looked out across the ocean as reds and oranges filled the horizon. He leaned back and felt Rinoa's presence beside him and his friends behind him. "Only tomorrow."

Together they watched the sun come up.


	46. Epilogue: Echoes of a Distant Light

"Mr Leonhart? Ms Leonhart?"

"Dad? They're here."

He opened his eyes and looked up at the young woman stood in front of him. She looked nervous, still unsure of herself in the uniform so new it almost shone in the Esthar light, still starched and scratchy in all the wrong places. As he stood and winced at the pain in his joints he saw the girl step forward to help before catching herself and standing at attention. He could have swore… He searched his memory for the name of the officer and it came easily. Even if the Lionheart had been a museum piece for years and his body had receded with the long march of time his mind, at least, had stayed with him. "You're Yasu? I remember meeting you once at the capital, after the First Diaspora. You weren't in a uniform back then of course. Overalls maybe." He gave a small smirk as he grasped his cane and rose, and grasped her hand as she held it out to him.

The girl coloured slightly. "Yes sir, of course." A short intake of breath he could well recognise as an order remembered. "Grandmo- the dowager duchess asked that I give you her love."

" Given, tell her I said hi. And now you're one of the Selphie's bright young things?"

"Yessir, the president asked that I escort you to the others."

They walked through the rotunda that had been built into the surface of the ancient structure, after legions of awed schoolchildren and careless tourists had finally done enough damage for something more permanent and sturdy to be built. Between the rows of grasses and flowers that had grown into and around the ancient building, the long and unstoppable march of nature had finally reached across the blooming continent and cracking the steel canopy open like an eggshell to smother it with life. It had taken decades but Balamb Garden finally lived up to its name, and only the smooth marble stone remained pristine among the flowers that covered every surface. Squall had taken pains and not a little exasperation from children and grandchildren to ensure it stayed that way. He paused as he passed it, taking off a glove and running a hand across the smooth surface. His daughter had asked him once why the name s of all the fallen Guardians hadn't been engraved on it and Squall had felt a pang as he had lied. The memories seemed to reach out from the rock and squeeze his heart and suddenly he found himself lightheaded.

Mira Leonhart stirred beside him, looking at him with concern as Yasu Nuo looked back. "Dad?"

He shook his head and walked past the engraved stone, leaving behind a smudged fingerprint as he did so. "Just old ghosts kiddo."

She frowned at the idea that he would still consider a child even as she had children of her own, and he noticed how much like Rinoa she looked. Just one thing she had inherited from her mother. "If you're not feeling up to it we can always go-"

He waved away her objections. "I wouldn't miss this for the world." The metal shell of Garden ended before him and opened up onto the plains, the grass that had fought and encroached and finally beat back the dead salt of the old world waving gently in the sea breeze. He could hear familiar laughter in the distance, and figures stood around the railings that led down to the beach. One turned and smiled as he approached and even though the black hair had faded to silver over the years the eyes still held their own fire. "Hey, love."

Selphie smiled. "Glad you could make it in the end." One hand unconsciously rubbed the ring on her finger. Even in the years after she had never once thought of removing it. "A little late though, everyone else is already here."

"Hey old man."

Squall nodded at Zell before walking up to the guardrails and looking down over the beach. Small shapes ran across the sands, or sat intently before masterpieces of sandcastles. As he watched one of the running children tripped, and lay there for a moment before picking himself up and running to the blonde woman who stood serenely in the midst of the chaos. As if sensing his gaze Siren looked up towards the group and waved.

"Still beautiful," Selphie said, and only those who had known the president the longest would have caught the vaguest whiff of jealously in her tone.

Rinoa laughed softly. "Still waiting in hope."

"Hyne willing she'll be waiting a while," Mira muttered, and then gasped as she realised what she had said. "I didn't mean to-" The woman glanced across at Rinoa put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. _I know._ Squall knew that Sorcery was always something that would be between the Leonhart women and he didn't inquire about it. One of the kids, barely old enough to walk, looked up towards the adults before going back to tottering across the warm sands after the shining green bauble that hung just out of his reach and Rinoa tutted in annoyance. "What, no time to say hello to his grandparents?"

Mira laughed as she let go of the handrail and walked down the stone steps. "Children have other priorities mom." She met Siren halfway up and took the small child by the hand as the two went back down to the shore with the other grandkids, and Siren stood beside her old friend. The golden pendant flashed in the midday sun as perfect as the day it was made over half a century ago, and Squall wondered how much trouble she went to to keep it pristine and safe from the sea air.

"You're looking well."

"Don't kid me Siren."

"Well-preserved, then." Siren glanced over at Selphie as the Estharian President tapped her watch. "It's starting."

As if on cue the first light bloomed on the horizon. Squall raised a hand to shield his eyes as a second sun rose from the Esthar horizon, the artificial fire of the engines scouring across the last of the salt plains, kept pristine and dead to serve one final purpose before the greenery would be allowed to reclaim it. He could hear the gasps of the children and adults as they came up from the shore to watch, as the ship rose up and up, past the clouds and into the blue skies above. Squall took his grandson's hands in his own as together three generations of family watched humanity ascend into heaven.

"The _Shiva._"

Two smaller pillars of flame rose in the far distance chasing the first. Squall bent his head towards Yasu, whispering as if somehow his voice would disturb the smooth ascent of the departing. "Support ships?"

"The _Leviathan_ and the _Eden. _Seed banks and database backups. Life and knowledge, you might say."

_They would have liked that._ Squall nodded as he watched the three ships disappear into the sky, leaving behind only the gently-drifting pillars of ash, soon to be washed away by the spring winds.

Selphie grinned as Carbuncle settled on her shoulder, none of her vigour lost. "They're headed out as far as they can go, to the closest habitable world we could plot for 'em. Crew and seeds and embryos and everything we laid hands on. Odine said we'd send ships to the stars, well we've sent the whole world in a bottle, just uncork at destination and add water."

Siren shook her head and Squall could detect some small sadness along with the amazement. "You were right all along, you never needed us."

Selphie refused to be brought down from her cloud. "Hey, by the time the Loop ends this little planet will be just some backwater in the galactic village. I bet whoever's left down here will be glad of the company."

"Hey."

Squall looked around at Rinoa. "Hmm?"

"We did it."

He gripped his wife's hand as he looked up into the sky, the soul of man already free of the pull of gravity and headed out, taking mankind to the stars like petals scattered across the ocean. He felt a hand grip his trouser-leg and looked down to see Quistis staring up at him. She had her mother's nature but her namesake's eyes. "Hello there."

"…S'that?"

Squall ignored Mira's sigh and picked the girl of no more than a handful of years up and placed her securely on his shoulders. "It's a spaceship."

The girl stared up raptly at the space the three ships had occupied, the contrails already blooming out and spreading across the plains beyond. "S'going?"

"To the stars."

As with all little children Quistis had the innate ability to follow any chain to its conclusion, regardless of how long that might take. "Why?"

Squal smiled. "It's a long story," he said quietly.

The girl perked up. She liked stories. "Whas' called?"

He could hear Rinoa laugh as he put Quistis back down on the ground, the girl already too heavy for his old shoulders. The soft pattering of footsteps were to his side as Siren brought up the other children from the beach. She smiled and nodded once as he sat down on the bench, Rinoa at his side, Selphie and Zell watching tolerantly from the railings as he began to talk.

"It's called…"

* * *

_I…_

* * *

"Stop! _Stop!"_

She turned and stared back at him, balanced perfectly on one foot, as he climbed after her. The faint grin on her face only infuriated him as he fought back tears from having a giant stone boulder slam into his gut.

"What, you think I'm gonna think you're a big girl if you cry?"

He forced a laugh through clenched teeth. "You know what they say, we're supposed to have gotten over that by year one. Big bad third-years don't cry."

She stared at him with piercing eyes. "The lion wept at the death of his sister."

"Mythology majors can cry all they want. Journalists are tougher."

He panted with effort as he clambered over the rocks after her. Meri easily outpaced him over the loose stones and shale and not for the first time since they had made landfall he found himself looking up enviously at the casual confidence she exuded as she stared down at him with a cocky grin and emerald eyes. Eyes that had held him rapt since the first time he had found them across the quad of the university, drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Whatever she had seen as she had stared back he hadn't discovered yet but he was in no hurry to find out. Now though, climbing precariously across the rocky shores of this blasted continent, he was perhaps a little, a tiny bit wondering whether he should have just found a more conventional friend.

_Oh come _on_ Galen everyone does their thesis in Dollet. There's not a single piece of stone or citizen in that blasted city that hasn't had at least a dozen pages written about it or interviewed a million times. I want to go somewhere we can make a name for ourselves before we're forty and half-dead from travel. I want to go somewhere we can _tell people about.

_And I know just the place_.

He had suggested taking a needleship to Whiteorb or Frontier but she had mercilessly overridden any off-world suggestions. Which was how he had had one day awoken on the first day of his final year and found himself on a two-seater hover, bound across choppy seas for the Eilands, with only curious dolphins and a windswept and grinning Meri for company as they headed across the reefs that surrounded the island chain.

_Meri if you just wanted to look at the coasts you could have taken the skyhook up and rode the orbital rails for a few hours. You know, like everyone else does._

_No. There's some really cool stuff out there, just waiting for us to find it. Trust me._

_There's nothing out here except rocky islands and the cordoned zones,_ he had said patiently.

None of his arguments had deterred her as she stared off at the horizon with a smile on her lips and a gleam in her eye, and he had been unable to break through to whatever secret she was hiding.

Slime gave way to rough dust and pebbles as they cleared the high-water mark and clambered over rocks that had laid exposed to the harsh winds and weather of the islands for centuries. Meri clambered over them easily, almost skipping across the rocky plateau. Galen on the other hand had found himself in serious danger of falling and breaking something until the girl had taken pity on him and shown him the indented – almost carved in fact – rocks that had been worn smooth and stable with age. He wheezed as he hauled himself over the ridge and stood next to her, looking down into the centre of the island, and saw- "Wow."

Meri looked askance at him and smirked as she saw the look of wonder on his face. "I know right?"

His feet slipped on the surface of the valley as rocks and moss turned to grass and soil beneath him. He shifted uneasily to avoid stepping on the blooms below his feet as before him flowers bloomed in every direction. Galen had grown up in the rocky Centran heartland and he'd never seen so many colours together outside of his books. There was nothing slipshod or natural in the flower-fields though as wide slashes of solid colour ran together from the edges of the caldera, running together and merging in scattershot fields of mixed blooms and forming loops around the trees that rose majestically from the ground. The entire effect reminded Galen of old pictures of the ancient Dollet gardens. Meri was saying something as she wrapped an arm around his and led him down across a path made out of smooth stone, the grey almost hidden by the glare of the light coming from the reflections. "Meri this…this is _amazing._ There's no way this kind of layout is natural."

Meri smiled gently at him. "An old friend keeps it safe. They remind her of home, she says."

"Who'd build something like this all the way out here? Who _lives_ here?" The Eilands had been cautionary tales for centuries, generations of parents had raised families on what monsters came out of them to eat disobedient little children, older generations on stories of vanished hovers and missing-person reports. Hell _his_ parents brought him up on stories of evil demons coming from under the earth to get him for not eating his peas. Of course his mother had prayed to the Eight as well so...

Galen was jerked out of his reverie in more ways than one as Meri grabbed his hand and propelled the two of them across the gentle slope, onward toward the next rise. Questions popped in his mind like bullets as the flowers seemed to respond as they passed, straining forward as if the two of them were some miniature sun and they desperate for sustenance.

"This was a peninsula before it was an island chain!" Meri shouted gleefully as she ran up the next hill. "My mother used to bring me up here all the time. Look!" He followed her pointing hand towards the top of the next hill, and thin rods outlined across the sky. It was only as they finally reached them that he realised they were nothing more than rusted steel poles, covered over with creepers and roses, and he leaned against one as he got his breath back. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the flower-fields go on as the ground levelled out and sloped down towards…

_They remind her of home, she says._

"No way. I don't believe it."

Meri looked at him with a smile on her face. "Oh, what?"

"You know damn well what it is I won't believe!"

It sat there, at the centre of the valley, the streams of flowers running down and flowing towards it. Not even a shell of a building, more line rough lines rising up from the ground that the vines and blooms had covered before it ever had a chance to be completed. Even though it was a mere skeleton he could still see the shape underneath, rotten steel held together with nature's wires. The segmented shell that he had seen in the picture books every night and in every storybook his parents had ever read to him stood out clear as day, and he almost sank to his knees as the flower-fields whirled around and finally came to stop in a spiral of colour at the centre of the steel beams. His voice was a croak in his throat. "How did you know?" He stared at her in amazement, and in his head he could hear a gleeful voice shouting _hell with exams just give me tenure right now._

They met her at the centre of the spiral and he just stood there mute and dumb as they talked for a few seconds, and then his heart stopped as Meri turned and gestured for him to come down, and the women looked up at him. Even at this distance he could see her eyes, like twin sapphires.

The eyes were even more hypnotising up close, a blue that seemed to bore through his soul. "You must be Galen? Meri told me about you." His mouth vacillated between open and closed as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make him sound like an idiot. Nothing came and he had no choice but to just stand and listen as the blonde woman who _could not be_ who Galen knew she was threw out her arms to encompass the Garden spread around them. "Do they still tell the tales?"

"Yes," he breathed.

She smiled radiantly. "Good. Don't be smug." This last to the grinning Meri who sat cross-legged on the soil staring at the two.

A small flint of cynicism remained in Galen's soul however and clawed its way up past the joyful shouting of his inner child. "You two set this whole thing up didn't you?"

The young girl smiled as her fingers idly traced patterns in the dirt. "I always wanted to wipe that smug smile off your face whenever you talked crap about the old books." She smiled in triumph. This was a won argument with no possible comeback.

The woman smiled tolerantly at the pair. "Is that the only reason?" she said in her soft melody.

"I really like him. I've been trying to get it through his head but he's pretty dumb."

Galen stared from one to the other to the gardens, trying to take in everything as his brain tried to process what he was hearing. "I…wait, you do?"

She spun on one heel and looked out over the fields of the caldera. The wind had picked up and a rainbow of petals flew through the air. "I'm an old woman Galen," she said quietly. "I've waited a long time, for something…for someone that was promised long ago. I think I've realised though, maybe we're each waiting for the other to make the journey." She looked at him with a depth that would have put his harshest professors to shame. "I swore once I'd chase her footsteps across the sands of time. Maybe I just need to unburden myself before I can take the first step after her."

_I wish I'd brought my Reader, or my penmike, or even just a damned notebook._

"Tell us a story Siren," Mira whispered. From the first time her mother had taken her to visit the strange sad lady on the magical island she had asked it every time.

_My god. My god it's really her._ "I want to…I mean…tell me _everything."_

She turned and locked eyes with him. "That could take a while."

He grinned and wondered what incredible karma he must have won for him to deserve this. He felt movement to his side and glanced to see Meri next to him as he settled down on the ground before the tall blonde. "I'm not going _anywhere_."

It was only later as he realised the sun had almost fallen below the horizon and his mouth was parched dry that he realised how long it had taken. Time had fallen away as he had used all his skills to etch her words in his memory, until finally she had smiled softly and said.

"That's all." She turned to look out of the window. "I promised an old friend I would keep their memories alive, as he promised once. I've done that now." The red of the sunset washed over her, painting the room with a warm light. He had to strain to hear her next words over the ocean and he knew he'd never tell another soul.

_Is it enough? _

"You're going to need a name for this if you want to publish you know," his friend, maybe more, whispered in his ear, her breath tickling against his skin.

The sunset light pierced the clouds and coated the island in rays, almost seeming to shine through the woman as she spoke, and as she opened her mouth to speak he could see the flowers _through_ her, as if only some tenuous connection kept her within the world. He had the impression she wasn't speaking to him, or to Meri, but for some distant figure only she could see.

"Call it…"

* * *

_I am…_

* * *

From the grainy surface of the shore he sighed for the tenth time in as many minutes. His jacket whipped across shis body and he looked up in sudden concern, Minder already scanning the area around for anything untoward. You still had to be mindful of the wind this close to the Omega Point, no telling what had been travelling on the winds since the Castle had departed for who-knew-when. His grandfather had told stories about _things_ that had turned up on the high tide, followed inevitably by the old man's wife coming in and telling him to stop telling nasty stories to the kiddies. Not that the kiddies had minded, they had drank it all up and asked him to tell them again. Myths and legends, except hey had been _real_.

Now, standing on the shore as the wind came in from the coastline, grass on the uplands around the ruins still black from where massive chains had once sat anchoring an obscene thing to the earth. He sighed again and spoke one word into the sky: "Time."

He glanced sideways as the numbers and dials formed beside him, bright lines forming out of the airborne machinery that had covered Home for more than a century now. The beyond-small creations responding to the needs of the planet's inhabitants before vanishing back into unseen dust on the wind to awaiting the next instruction. To someone who had grown up on a colony world it was more than a little creepy.

In response to his effortless mastery over the machines the small girl beside him raised a hand. Without speaking or making any other gesture fire bloomed on her palm and spread in whirling patterns n front of her, and she gave the smug grin a child does when it demonstrates a skill it knows an adult cannot match. _Look what I can do._ The tiny manmade machines were no longer alone in the air. The disappearance of the Castle had brought other, older particles back into the world. Children born on Home were beginning to show signs of being able to use the power it brought with it. It flowed through the minds of man, slowly building up and waiting for the time when it would be strong enough to respond to their desires

Their dreams.

The sea churned.

* * *

_I am cold._

_Rough stones drag against my skin as the crushing cold picks me up and carries me with it. I feel something beneath me, hard and solid after nothingness, and I scrabble at it as the cold tries to drag me back into the depths. I resist, fighting off the dark as my hands slide against the floor and my fingers find stones and sand to grip. I can feel cold all around me and I rise up, the sheer effort of it almost exhausting me and sending me back down._

_Suddenly the cold gives way above me and as it recedes away again I rise up and my head breaks through and as I gasp I feel wind against my skin. I try to open my eyes and all I see a bright orange-and-red cover on the sky my mind is telling is called dawn. The effort is too much, too much, and I crawl forward and collapse onto the sand, safe from the cold and dark._

"_Hello?"_

_I see the two as they walk up, the black boy coming closer as the girl stares at me with shaking hands as if desperate for someone to hide behind. Behind them there is colours, and for a second I wonder if I have truly gone anywhere, until my vision clears to a rainbow vision of white shining towers in the distance, a place that I remember even though all else has departed. Olesia._

"_Olesia?" I must have said it aloud because the man is shaking his head, and for a second there is a nameless terror in my heart when I realise he heard, before some fragment of memory tells me there is nothing to fear anymore. What that fear was I cannot remember._

_Another slice of the part rises and makes itself heard in the chaos of my head. I try to raise one hand feebly to point behind him at the shining city. "Guard…Guardian city."_

_He kneels down and brings me up from the ocean onto my knees and holds me to him, and I can't find words or thoughts for what I feel as he whispers in my ear. "No. Look. _Our_ city. New Esthar." His black-and-gold uniform presses against me and as I see the embroidered white-and-black emblem on it everything flows back, everything, and suddenly I'm shaking in his embrace.  
_

"_S…Squ…"_

"_We know you, Shiva. We've been waiting a long time, those of us who kept the stories alive, so we could be here for you when you came back. Look." He raises a hand, and pale blue fires and symbols flow down on it. "Not magic, machinery. We can make miracles now, with our own power, without shortcuts. We don't need them, we've left the cradle." He gently pushes me away and our eyes meet. He looks so much like him, I wonder how much time it has been. "There's a message passed down, from someone you once called a sister. We've kept it safe for you:"_

"'_They no longer need guards. Be their companions instead.'"_

_And I realise what his words mean and I cry into the sands of my new life._

_As the ocean finally releases its hold, and I am free._

_I feel…_

_Warm._

**Shadows in Light**

_FIN__  
_


End file.
